The next election could see a shift in the balance of progressive power, Lib Dem Shadow Chancellor Vince Cable told Charles Clarke and David Lammy at a Fabian fringe at Lib Dem Conference. "What would happen if the present opinion polls were converted into reality at the next general election?" asked Cable.  "Labour would lose massively. We would have two opposition parties in the progressive tradition. We would be relatively more powerful than last time."

Cable suggested that Labour's current debate could spark another party civil war like that of the '70s.

"I was a footsoldier in the last civil war. I remember it. We could be approaching another realignment. We in the LibDems can not make that happen. But we need to be aware that these tectonic plates are shifting."

But Cable was sharply rebuffed by Charles Clarke:

“There is no possibility of a realignment of that kind. There is no SDP group as there was in that time in any form, in any shape whatsoever

I will make a prediction. My prediction is that no Labour MP will leave the Labour party, as Brian Sedgemore did in the last Parliament to join the LibDems"

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