REUTERS

BASILDON (ENGLAND) PRIME Minister David Cameron rallied behind his coalition with the Liberal Democrats on Tuesday, hoping to revive its fortunes after big losses in local elections, but tempting the wrath of an unruly Conservative right.

Cameron and Lib Dem Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg renewed their coalition vows in a rare joint appearance at a tractor factory, pledging to see through an unpopular austerity plan and to get a shrinking economy back on track.

Voters dished out a thrashing to both the Conservative and Lib Dem parties in nationwide local council elections last week, venting their anger after Britain fell back into recession after two years of uncompromising spending cuts.

The loss of support rallied rebels on the right of Cameron’s party who blame his failure to win an outright parliamentary majority on his centrist, modernising approach and who fear his compact with Clegg will alienate right-wing voters at the 2015 election.

Speaking alongside Clegg, Cameron said the coalition was committed to “a tough task getting even tougher”, clinging to a plan of cutting Britain’s large budget deficit.

“We’re finding it more difficult to get our economy recovering,” Cameron said. “It is tough right now for families to make ends meet.

“We formed a coalition two years ago to try and deal with these problems and I believe the need for that coalition - two parties working together to solve the problems we have in our country - is as important and necessary today as it was two years ago.” Clegg, whose party has plummeted in popularity since forming the coalition, said his party was also prepared for a further two years of spending cuts to balance the books.