LABOUR supporters clashed with Liberal Democrats as they held a press conference in Hartlepool yesterday.

Two groups of placard-waving activists gathered before the arrival of LibDem leader Charles Kennedy and by-election candidate Jody Dunn. They accused the Liberal Democrats of being drug pushers' friends as the pair arrived at a town centre hotel for a media briefing.

Mr Kennedy and Mrs Dunn said their party was not soft on drugs, and said the actions in the street amounted to anti-social behaviour and should have been stopped.

The party leader, who returned from the US on Sunday night, accused Labour of repeating tactics used during other recent by-elections, but a Labour spokesman denied they had been violent and described the protests as "good, traditional campaigning".

Mrs Dunn had earlier told reporters of the "absolutely phenomenal" reaction she has had from voters during the early days of her campaign.

Mr Kennedy forecast the by-election would be "a national barometer of politics as we move to the closing stages of this Parliament" and predicted a Liberal Democrat win.