The Lib Dem leader said the move had been ¡°by far the most painful¡± part of moving from opposition to government but insisted that the party had done ¡°the best thing we could¡± given the ¡°simple truth¡± was that both Labour and Conservatives were set on raising fees.

Addressing conference delegates in Birmingham this afternoon, Mr Clegg said: ¡°Government has brought difficult decisions. Of course the most heart wrenching for me, for all of us, was on university funding.

¡°Like all of you, I saw the anger. I understand it, I felt it, I have learned from it and I know how much damage this has done to us as a party.

¡°[It has been] by far the most painful part of our transition from the easy promises of opposition to the invidious choices of government.¡±

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He said the experience had taught him that despite working hard on the details of the policy, it made no difference ¡°if the perception is wrong¡±.

¡°We failed to explain that there were no other easy options. And we have failed so far to show that the new system will be much, much better than people fear,¡± he said.

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Mr Clegg also praised his deputy leader, Simon Hughes, who he said had been ¡°busting a gut¡± as the government¡¯s higher education access advocate despite having reservations about the policy when it was first proposed.

¡°Simon didn¡¯t like the decision we made, and for reasons I respect. But rather than sitting back he has rolled up his sleeves and got on with making the new system work,¡± he said.

simon.baker@tsleducation.com