Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has said he aims to make the party a "major force" in Greater Manchester, as he identified Stockport as a "key" target in this week's local elections.
Sir Ed told the MEN that despite Labour "throwing the kitchen sink" at the party's city leader John Leech, he still expected a good turn of results when voters head to the polls on Thursday.
Sir Ed, who served as energy secretary in the coalition government, said he would be keeping a particularly close eye on results south of the city.
Read more: Bitter battle for Greater Manchester's most tightly contested council flares up again
"A key area for us is Stockport, we've got two parliamentary constituencies there which are marginal between us and the Tories, which we want to take next time", he said.
"And of course, we're the just about the largest party but Labour and Conservatives have done some sort of Faustian pact to stop us."
In no overall control since 2011, Stockport has been run by Labour for the last six years despite the Lib Dems emerging as the largest group at last year’s local elections.
A shock victory for the Greens in Reddish South left Labour with one fewer councillor than the Lib Dems, appearing to signal that the administration could again change hands.
But - at a crunch meeting the following week - opposition groups refused to oust council leader Elise Wilson before the end of her term, meaning Labour remained at the helm.
Sir Ed said: "That's not gone down too well in some of the Tory wards, because not only don't they like what Boris Johnson's been up to, they don't like the fact that Tories in Stockport are supporting Labour."
Asked how far off the party was from challenging Labour more broadly across Greater Manchester, Sir Ed said: "I'm determined that we become a major force again.
"I think whether it's Manchester, Hull, Sunderland, Sheffield, Liverpool or Newcastle, we feel we're beginning to make gains again and that's often at Labour's expense."
Sir Ed also dismissed rumours of a national election pact with Sir Keir Starmer's party.
Tory chairman Oliver Dowden claimed over the weekend that the Lib Dems had stood down scores of candidates across the North of England to clear the way for Labour.
In return, Mr Dowden claimed, Labour would give Sir Ed's party a free run in the South.
"There's zero truth in that, I mean how desperate can you get?", Sir Ed said.
"There is no pact, there's not going to be a pact. It's nonsense."
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