Nick Clegg's nightmare at the polls was completed yesterday as British voters decisively rejected the Liberal Democrats' cherished project of electoral reform.
The party's resounding defeat in the referendum on the Alternative Vote came after Lib Dems took a pounding in councils across England, as well as elections to the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly.
Senior Lib Dems insisted that the Deputy Prime Minister's position was safe and ministers from both sides of the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition said the partnership would continue.
But Mr Clegg faces dismay in the Lib Dem ranks at the prospect that electoral reform has been knocked off the agenda for a generation.
Conservative backbenchers called for the coalition to be brought to an end before the five-year term agreed by Mr Clegg and David Cameron.
Mr Clegg said: "Clearly this has been a really disappointing day and we have had a lot of very disappointing results overnight, but we are going to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and move on."
Mr Cameron was hailed by Tories for his performance in delivering an increase in the party's total of councils and councillors.
This after a year in which his administration has imposed significant public spending cuts, as well as protecting the traditional first-past-the-post system for Westminster elections.
Jubilant Tories said they had won more than half the votes in English councils.
Labour celebrated gaining 786 council seats, but was licking its wounds in Scotland, where a remarkable performance by the Scottish National Party sent Alex Salmond back to Holyrood for a second term with an overall majority.
Meanwhile, Ed Miliband's party missed an overall majority in the Welsh Assembly by a single seat.
Mr Miliband – who backed AV despite the opposition of more than half of his MPs and several Labour grandees – said he was disappointed by the results of the referendum and Scottish Parliament elections.
However, he insisted that Labour's strong showing in English councils and the Welsh Assembly showed that the party was "coming back" after its woeful performance in last year's General Election.
Mr Miliband said: "I'm disappointed that we lost the AV referendum but I think the people have spoken very clearly on this issue.
"I am disappointed about what happened in Scotland. But I think that we made some really important gains in English local government.
"I think we had a fantastic result in Wales. We have got a long way to go as a party, and I am the first person to say that. But I think what we saw today was a Labour Party, particularly in English local government and in Wales, coming back."
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