Transcript: Nick Clegg on the budget and the local elections

Here’s the full transcript of this morning’s Today programme interview with Nick Clegg:

James Naughtie: Coalition government involves some pretty hard bargaining, some difficult compromises for both parties. You might think therefore that the opportunity of a local election campaign would be quite welcome, party leaders being themselves, talking to their own parties without having to worry too much about the other lot. But for Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal Democrats, times are tough. He doesn’t even need to look at the opinion polls to know that. He said himself at the weekend that coalition life was a roller coaster and acknowledged that any government sooner or later found itself in a rut where every potentially good story turned into a bad one. He was obviously referring to the present. So how does he breathe life into the Liberal Democrat campaign? The Deputy Prime Minister is with us. Good morning.