THE Liberal Democrats have made preventing a fresh Hampshire “housing bubble” a key priority by pledging to build many more homes.

Nick Clegg’s party also promised “devolution on demand” for local authorities, a legal right to force Whitehall departments to hand down new powers.

And it paved the way for bigger council tax rises by calling for the axing of the requirement for town halls to win a referendum before bills go up above a certain level – currently two per cent.

But the Lib Dems promised to protect voters by introducing proportional representation in town halls to make councillors “properly accountable for their decisions”.

The policies were unveiled at a London manifesto launch at which Mr Clegg urged voters to give him – not the “extremist” SNP or UKIP – the balance of power on May 7.

The deputy prime minister said: “Do you want Nigel Farage walking through the door of No 10? Do you want Alex Salmond sat at the Cabinet table? Or do you want the Liberal Democrats?

“The Liberal Democrats will add a heart to a Conservative government and we will add a brain to a Labour one.

“We won’t allow the Conservatives to cut too much and jeopardise our schools and hospitals. And we won’t allow Labour to borrow too much and risk our economy again.”

The other main manifesto pledges were to:

  • Increase the education budget to £55bn by 2020 – £5bn a year more than promised by the Tories and £2.5bn more than Labour.
  • Invest £8bn in the NHS, with equal care for mental and physical health.
  • Pass five new laws to protect nature and fight climate change.
  • Balance the budget “fairly”, through a mixture of cuts and taxes on higher earners.

On housing, the document struck a very different approach to the Conservatives – pledging to give councils the power to suspend Right to Buy, instead of expanding it.

Instead, it warned of a looming “crisis”, in particular “the risk of a new housing bubble, focused on London and the South East”.

It pledged to build 300,000 homes a year – including in ten new garden cities – and introduce a ‘Rent to Own’ scheme, where monthly payments build a stake in the property.

The manifesto said: “We have to speed up house building and stop prices from getting any further out of reach of families.”

Meanwhile, further devolution to local councils would start with back-to-work schemes, currently run by private firms – also a Labour policy.

The Lib Dems also ruled out cutting the number of MPs, as the Conservatives want, without PR for Westminster, but with no mention of a referendum to approve it.

But the party’s political opponents have attacked the Liberal Democrats’ manifesto, with Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman saying: “People know that the Lib Dems’ manifesto can’t be trusted. They broke the key promises in their last manifesto and are repeating them once again.”

Chancellor George Osborne has said a vote for the Lib Dems or Ukip would pave the way for Labour to form the next government, which would result in “chaos, job losses and cuts to family incomes”.

Green Party leader Natalie Bennett said the Lib Dems’ environmental pledges could not be taken seriously due to the party’s record of delivering plans, which she labelled a “sad, sick joke”.

COMMENT by Parliamentary correspondent Rob Merrick

WATCHING Nick Clegg launch the Liberal Democrat manifesto the fascinating aspect was not what he said – but that he launched it at all.

Who would have bet – given five years of abuse, including having dog poo shoved through his letter box – that the Lib Dem leader would still be standing?

Incredibly Mr Clegg still looks as fresh-faced and wrinkle-free as the happy days he was basking in ‘Cleggmania’ and marching into No.10 with his arm around David Cameron.

Just as incredibly – given his collapsed vote – he could still be the Kingmaker, urging voters not to let the cruel Tories (no heart) or stupid Labour (no brain) govern without him.

But, inevitably, the manifesto, and Mr Clegg’s answers, did not tell us which of the Big Two the Lib Dems will choose – the question that voters really want answered, presumably?

There is little doubt the policies are closer to Labour’s, not least because the Lib Dems oppose Conservative plans for a whopping £12bn of further welfare cuts.

However, Mr Clegg would find it easier to keep working with David Cameron – and has been careful to leave the door open to the Tories’ cherished referendum on EU membership.

In the absence of any clarity there was more interest in events in Essex – where Nigel Farage was trying to convince us that UKIP are not merely a party obsessed with Europe and immigration.

In that he succeeded. The manifesto – unlike the 2010 version, famously dismissed as “drivel” by Mr Farage himself – boasts detailed plans for other policy areas, which UKIP can claim have been costed.

And it was striking how much the party is now reaching out to disillusioned Labour voters, far from the image of appealing to former Tory blazer-wearing colonels.

Consider the package on benefits, which calls for a tougher cap – but would also scrap ‘bedroom tax’ and those much-criticised work capability assessments for the long-term sick.

However, the event was notable for supporters’ ugly heckling of a journalist who questioned the lack of non-white faces in the manifesto….which suggested a party that has changed less than it thinks.