Hundreds of Bristol's jobless young people would be would be given work or training within three months of finding themselves on the dole queue, Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg has pledged.

On the final day of the party's annual conference he unveiled his vision for fighting the next election with promises to get youngsters not in work, education or employment – known as 'neets' – off the scrapheap.

That would be done by cancelling the VAT cut introduced last year and using the money saved to invest in 10,000 more university places and 50,000 more college places, as well as introducing a "paid internship" scheme at a rate of £55 a week, to give people real job experience.

The party describes it as a "crisis measure" and a "lifeboat for a lost generation", and claims its "90 day promise" contrasts favourably with the Government, which would make youngsters wait 10 months before getting help.

Government figures show there were 970 neets in Bristol last year, 220 in Bath and North East Somerset, 230 in North Somerset and 390 in South Gloucestershire.

Mr Clegg told delegates: "We could pay for 800,000 placements for 800,000 young people for the cost of just one weekend's VAT cut.

"If it's between 15p off a cinema ticket and a decent future, I know what we should choose."

Mr Clegg has endured a difficult week in Bournemouth with key figures, including Northavon's Steve Webb, firing warning shots about his plans to introduce "savage" public spending cuts.