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He has shaken up the election campaign and seen his party surge in the polls.

Now, if the polls are to believed, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg could be on the brink of transforming the country’s political landscape and could even hold the balance of power after May 6.

Political editor Paul Francis asked him about his party’s prospects for Kent and his thoughts on some of the key issues.

Question: In 2005, 132,419 voters in Kent voted for the Lib Dems but not one MP from your party was elected. Doesn’t this show that a Lib Dem vote is wasted in Kent?

Nick Clegg: All bets are off at this election. If we've learnt anything over the last few weeks it's that you can't second guess the British people. That's enormously exciting, and, if there was ever a time for people in Kent to vote with their hearts, it's now. Vote for what you believe in. The way to really waste your vote is to throw it away on a party that doesn't share your values.

Question: You want an amnesty for illegal immigrants who have been here for ten years. Isn’t the evidence that amnesties simply encourage more immigration? Don’t most people want tougher laws on illegal immigration?

Nick Clegg: Thanks to the Conservative and Labour governments, we now have no idea how many people are living here illegally; living in the shadows and not paying taxes. I am sick and tired of hearing the other parties talk tough about this when neither has any idea how to deal with this problem. It’s all well and good saying you’ll deport these people, but how are you going to do that if you don’t know where they are? We are the only party that isn’t in denial about this and has a plan to sort it once and for all.

First, we’ll make our borders secure to stop illegal immigration. We’ll reintroduce the exit checks that the Conservatives abolished so we count people out as well as in, and we’ll make sure the border police crack down on rogue employers who give work to illegal migrants. We’ll work with the EU to stop people-trafficking.

Then – and only then – we’ll sort out the legacy problem of those who have already been here for many years. We’ll let families who have been here for a decade apply for a two year probationary work permit, and ask them to do community service. They’ll have to speak English, pass civic tests and at the end of it all they will be able to apply for citizenship – all the while they will be paying taxes instead of living under the radar. We can then concentrate on catching the real criminals: the drug dealers and the people traffickers.

Question: What one thing would be a priority for you in tackling the country’s huge deficit?

Nick Clegg: A tax on the profits of the banks so they pay for the support they’ve received from taxpayers. That’s the only new tax I want to see to cut the deficit – other than that, we should focus on reducing spending. We’ve spelt out the details of our plan to deliver £15bn of savings in the back of our manifesto, two thirds of which will go towards paying off the deficit. That’s more than we’ve had from the other parties, but of course we will need to go much further.

Question: You believe in changing the electoral system to a form of PR. Doesn’t this lead to weak rather than strong government and the potential for greater uncertainty?

Nick Clegg: Look at the problem we have now. If you live in Sevenoaks and vote Labour, the chances are that your vote won’t count. It’s the same if you vote Green in Canterbury. And any electoral system which could give the most seats to the party which comes third – which is one of the possibilities at the moment – is deeply undemocratic. Do you think people would accept that government as legitimate? Scaremongering over a fairer electoral system is something the old parties do when they want to block change.

Question: After your surge in the polls, are you concerned that your run of support will dip ahead of election day?

Nick Clegg: It’s impossible to predict where we’ll be by polling day. No one could have predicted things would have gone as they have so far in this campaign, and no one knows what will happen next. My party will just keep taking our message to people so that they know what the change we’re offering will mean for them.

Question: You’ve resisted saying what the Lib Dems would do in the event of a hung Parliament. Aren’t voters entitled to know what your position would be before casting their votes?

Nick Clegg: Voters know that we have four priorities – fair taxes, so you don’t pay a penny of income tax on the first £10,000 you earn, giving you £700 back; smaller class sizes in our schools, so every child gets the best start; a new, green economy, where we get the big banks lending again to hardworking businesses; and clean, decent politics where if your MP is corrupt you can sack them. Those are the priorities we’ll be fighting for no matter what the outcome of this election.

Question: What’s your reaction to the Conservative charge that voting for the Lib Dems will enable Labour to stay in power?

It’s pretty desperate. In other parts of the country, Labour is saying a vote for the Lib Dems is a vote for the Conservatives. It’s all nonsense: a vote for the Liberal Democrats is a vote for the Liberal Democrats – for change and for fairness.

Question: Give me three words to describe a country run by a Lib Dem government with you as Prime Minister.

Different. Better. Fairer.