THE Liberal Democrat party has failed to turn their surge in the polls at the start of the campaign into seats at Westminster.

Leader Nick Clegg’s sparkling performance in the first televised debate propelled the party into the consciousness of many voters, and for a while it looked as if they were on course to surpass the Labour party in the popular vote.

However the first indications that the Lib Dems were in for a disappointing evening came with the BBC, Sky and ITV joint exit poll which suggested they would actually lose seats three seats compared to 2005.

Vince Cable, economics spokesman, reacted quickly to dispel suggestions that the exit polls would be indicative of a poor Lib Dem showing.

He said: “These polls have been horribly wrong in the past. The change this time is that they do not include postal votes, which were posted when we were at our peak.”

But early signs showed the exit poll to have been accurate, with the earliest constituencies to declare not showing any increase in the Lib Dem share of the vote.

The highest profile casualty was Lembit Opik, frontbench Lib Dem and MP for Montgomeryshire since 1997. He lost out to Conservative candidate Glyn Davies who gained a 13.2 per cent swing. Opik later tweeted: “It's a very sad day for democracy if being characterful means you can't be in Parliament.”

The Lib Dem’s top target, Guildford, which they had missed out on in 2005 by 77 votes, went to the Conservatives who won with a 7,782 seat majority.

Evan Harris, Lib Dem MP for Oxford West and Abingdon from 1997, lost his seat to the Conservatives, with a 6.9 per cent swing.

However Chris Huhne, Lib Dem home affairs spokesman, held Eastleigh with an increased majority, and the Lib Dems won Eastbourne from the Conservative party.

Despite disappointment over the Lib Dem’s overall gains, their role as a potential kingmaker in a hung parliament meant much of the speculation through the night was about whether Nick Clegg would form a coalition with the Labour party.

David Cameron, leader of the Conservatives, spoke out against that possibility following his re-election in Witney: “It’s already clear that the Labour government has lost its mandate to govern this country. The country wants change and that change is going to require new leadership.”

The Lib Dem’s disappointing performance may be related to the treatment they received in Conservative-supporting newspapers in the latter part of the campaign. The Daily Mail was particularly ferocious in its criticism of Nick Clegg, warning readers of the dangers of a hung parliament, and suggesting the United Kingdom was in danger of suffering similar problems to Greece.