IN A shower of indoor fireworks and golden tickertape, Liberal De-mocrat leader Charles Kennedy bade a spectacular farewell to Cardiff yesterday.

Speaking at the Welsh Lib Dems' final pre-election rally, Mr Kennedy praised the achievements of his party in government at the Assembly, and pledged himself to speak out against injustice.

"If you like what we say: fair taxes, care for our environment, a strong voice in the world, better schools, better hospitals, improved pensions, more police, then trust us. Vote for us. Join us," he told an audience at the Welsh Institute of Sport, Cardiff.

Earlier, relaxing in the sun on the boundary at Sophia Gardens cricket ground, Mr Kennedy explained why he had not visited Gwent during the campaign.

"There is a limit in 21 working days to how many seats you can get to. Our strategy has been to get to each media region. That has enabled us to get to far more voters than by going to specific seats," he said.

Mr Kennedy told the Argus that the campaign had generally been successful - at least in terms of what the opinion polls were showing - with his party enjoying steadily increasing support throughout the campaign.

He played down speculation that tactical anti-Tory voting could see him as leader of the largest opposition group.

"It's a roulette wheel of a voting system. At the last election our national share of the vote went down, but we won more seats. It's pointless to make predictions. We need more MPs and as many as we can get."

Gwent AM Mike German took the platform ahead of Mr Kennedy. He said that the smear campaign he believes is being waged against him had not affected the election. "You will be aware that Old Labour is up to its usual dirty tricks and that I've been on the wrong end of them. People have not been fooled.."

Outgoing party president Richard Livsey, who has just been elevated to the House of Lords, predicted that the Tories would win no seats in Wales.