Nick Clegg to accuse Ukip leader Nigel Farage of failing to stand up for Britain

In a speech to a pro-European think-tank, the Centre for European Reform, in London the deputy prime minister will say that Farage is happy to claim his "taxpayer-funded salary" while failing to turn up for many votes in the parliament.

Clegg will say that Farage failed to fight for the British economy when he abstained in a vote on the EU-US trade agreement which could benefit the British economy to the tune of £10bn a year.

The deputy prime minister will outline his main lines of attack against Farage in their forthcoming television debate when he says that pro-Europeans, rather than "isolationists like Ukip", are best placed to promote reform of the EU.

Clegg will tell the thinktank: "Pro-Europeans are the real reformers now … for too long, as pro-Europeans, we've let the myths of isolationists dominate this debate.

"This includes the claim that if you see the benefits of the EU, you're completely blind to its faults. That's simply not true. The fact is