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A senior source close to party leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said at yesterday's party conference in Liverpool: "You have different kinds of nationalism on the rise in this country. It's by no means unique in this country in times of difficulty; the western world has undergone some pretty pressing difficulties since the crash of 2008.

''You have Le Pen in France, [Geert] Wilders in Holland and the Tea Party in the US. This country is no different... You have Ukip trying to pull us out of one union or the SNP trying to break up the UK. These are forces of nationalism which are wishing to fracture our country; something the Liberal Democrats stand wholeheartedly against."

The comments come ahead of today's speech at conference by Clegg, where he will warn that a vote for the SNP is "not harmless", arguing that if people do not want a lurch to the left with Labour or to the right with the Conservatives, then they should choose the stability of the middle and vote for the Liberal Democrats.

In a question and answer session with delegates yesterday, the party leader insisted the SNP and Ukip were not parties of protest, but parties representing an "ugly form of political grievance".

Danny Alexander, LibDem chief secretary to the Treasury, has already ticked off David Cameron for his "disgraceful" behaviour in "talking up" Nicola Sturgeon's party for what he insisted were the Tories' own political purposes.

The Highland MP claimed that if the SNP ever got to be part of a governing alliance with Labour, they would simply use it to further their aim of Scottish independence and undermine the Union.

In his conference speech, he branded the Nationalists "reckless" and claimed that in their zeal to "achieve what they see as the Holy Grail of separation, they lose all perspective, they take their eye off the ball".

Alexander argued that when it came to the economy, the SNP leadership misjudged "all the big calls", saying that the First Minister's claims that her economic vision would lead to less debt was "factually wrong; her plans would lead to yet more debt not less".

Business Secretary Vince Cable, decried any chance of a Lab-Lib-SNP tie-up after May 7, saying it was "virtually inconceivable that you can have a coalition with a party that is committed to breaking up your country. We just don't see how it could happen."

In his keynote address this lunch-time, Clegg will praise the resilience and steadfastness of what he will term his "brave party", saying it has been tested in government and "has passed the test".

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