Tories gain Larkfield North from the Lib Dems last Friday

Senior Lib Dems in Kent have urged leader Nick Clegg to up his game after an election rout saw the party lose dozens of councillors - many to the Conservatives.

Candidates across the county saw the party suffer one of its most serious defeats as voters appeared to punish them for their part in the coalition.

Now those who lost out have turned on Nick Clegg with a warning that he must distance the party from the Conservatives and set out policy differences more clearly.

An analysis by the KM Group reveals the Lib Dems lost 27 seats across the county. Meanwhile, the Conservatives gained 13 seats - mainly at the expense of their coalition partners - confounding predictions that they would pay the price for spending cuts.

David Cameron’s party remains the dominant political force at town halls in Kent winning 368 of the 512 seats that were contested.

Lynne Beaumont, former Lib Dem opposition leader on Shepway, where the party lost all its councillors, said: "Clegg really needs to up his game and stop playing the nice guy because he’s up against a formidable politician.

"We need to wake up to the fact that we hold the balance of power in the coalition and are not there to be the kicking boys.

"Whether he stays or goes depends on how he plays it. I’ve seen him being determined and strong and the rest of the country needs to see that.

"I used to be extremely proud of being a Lib Dem and we need to get that back.

"There are not enough differences being drawn between us and the Conservatives."

While she welcomed Mr Clegg’s threat to veto NHS changes, she said many had urged him "months ago" to distance the party from the reforms.

"He’s right in what he’s saying but he’s also so wrong because we should have been saying this months ago."

Meanwhile, Canterbury city councillor Alan Perkins said: "At the end of the day, if you steer your ship in the wrong direction you have to go.

"Had Nick Clegg not joined the coalition and demanded a referendum on the same day as the election, I believe we would have done better.

"Unfortunately, the position he took was hideously wrong. We have been kicked ever since."

Asked what he thought the party should now do differently, he said: "We need to look at the actual policies on which our MPs are voting.

"If there are things we don’t agree with, we should not be voting for them.

"All this stuff about forming a coalition in the best interests of the country is nonsense.

"We should be looking at what it is Lib Dems believe in and support those parts of the coalition programme that match those beliefs and those that do not."

Meanwhile, UKIP has notched up its first council seat in the county. Victor Webb becomes the party’s first ever candidate in the Rusthall ward of Tunbridge Wells.