The Liberal Democrats have been damaged by their failure to explain the U-turn on tuition fees, the party's deputy leader, Simon Hughes, admitted on the eve of tomorrow's byelection in Oldham East and Saddleworth.
As a veteran Lib Dem in the constituency accused the leadership of "miserably" failing to communicate the benefits of the changes, Hughes admitted that ministers were guilty of "communication and presentational problems".
The criticisms highlight nerves among Lib Dems who are convinced they stand a fighting chance of victory tomorrow night. But they have been alarmed by the level of anger on tuition fees stemming from what they regard as misplaced fears that students will have to pay £9,000 upfront.
Hughes, who was recently appointed as the government's adviser on access to education, said he understood the internal Lib Dem criticism. Speaking during his fifth visit to the constituency, the deputy leader said: "There were communication problems and presentational problems last year and the politics of how it was presented were not comfortable. We have got to overcome that. We were not clear enough about the £6,000 maximum and not clear enough that, from the beginning, everybody would be paying less and huge numbers of people would be paying nothing, whereas now they are paying something.
"We were trying to be more sophisticated and too cerebral and not upfront enough. The other problem was the pledge we all made individually which we could not escape from. We did not manage to deal with that and the coalition meant we had moved on."
The remarks by Hughes came after a long-serving Lib Dem councillor in the constituency criticised the leadership. Brian Lord, a former teacher and magistrate who has served as a councillor in Saddleworth for 24 years, said: "On the doorstep in this campaign I have had a fair number of people who do not understand what has happened. We have failed miserably to get the truth of the matter over. If young people understood the truth they would not be marching on the streets. But they are marching and we have to get the right message through."
The criticism set the backdrop for a tense byelection, the first since the formation of the coalition, caused by the removal of the Labour MP Phil Woolas for telling lies about his Lib Dem opponent. The byelection is a key test for Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband, whose party's candidates were just 103 votes apart in the general election.
A bad loss for Elwyn Watkins, the Lib Dem candidate in the general election who launched a successful court case to unseat Woolas, would represent a major blow for Clegg. Lib Dems believe it would confirm fears that former supporters are flocking to Labour in protest at the cuts. A strong performance – victory or a credible second place – would stabilise the position of the deputy prime minister.
A win for Miliband would silence Labour critics who have criticised him for lacklustre leadership. A defeat would raise questions about the position of Miliband, who would have lost a seat held last May during the party's second worst general election result since 1918.
Opinion polls over the weekend suggested that Labour would comfortably win tomorrow night. But a succession of high-profile Labour and Lib Dem figures insisted that the result would be close. The two parties believe that the Tories, who came a respectable third in the general election, will struggle. Kashif Ali, the Tory candidate, has run an energetic campaign, but has received token support from the cabinet.
Debbie Abrahams, the Labour candidate, has focused on the party's heartland in Oldham which has some of the most deprived communities in the north-west. The Lib Dems have focused on the more genteel area of Saddleworth which used to be in the Colne Valley seat held by the popular Liberal MP Richard Wainwright.
Hughes said: "I got a sense that up until last Friday the Tories were perceived as making an effort. Clearly that changed over the weekend, so that will affect lots of would-be Tory voters or would-be soft Lib Dem-Tory waverers."
Woolas told the Manchester Evening News: "The feedback I have had is that people in the constituency did not like two judges coming up from London and telling them who to vote for. What happened to me will work in Labour's favour."