Leader Tim Farron's 'lessons' from Kirsty Williams

Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron has said he can learn lessons from his party's leader in Wales.

He said Kirsty Williams had been able to persuade the Labour-run Welsh government to adopt key Lib Dem policies.

Next year's National Assembly elections would be "of vast importance" to him and the Lib Dems, he told BBC Wales.

Mr Farron's comments came as Ms Williams addressed the party's conference on Monday.

It comes as Mr Farron described the 2015 General Election as "devastating" for his party.

Mr Farron defended his party's role in coalition with the Conservatives at Westminster but sidestepped questions about whether the Welsh party should steer clear of coalitions in Cardiff Bay.

"I think if you go into power, you do it, you should do it, in the national interest, and when we went into power in 2010 we did it in the national interest and we knew it would be politically damaging," he argued from the conference in Bournemouth.

"That is a rare thing isn't it, that a party does what's right for the country and wrong for itself, dare I say it?"

"My advice to Kirsty is to keep doing what you're doing. Kirsty is the stand-out leader, somebody whose voice resonates beyond Cardiff, it resonates beyond the assembly and it is a voice that is of the people of Wales - whichever part of Wales that you live in - and she is hugely effective as a result.

"She has shown the way in how you deal in an assembly which is kind of balanced - with Labour having exactly 50% of the members - how you can extract the most for the people in that position.

"So I've got lessons to learn from Kirsty, not the other way around."

The many faces of Tim Farron as he addresses his party's autumn conference in Bournemouth

Mr Farron said "the world has changed significantly" with the election of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader.

"I respect the outcome of their leadership election result - but nevertheless they've chosen to go into the world of fantasy economics.

"People across Wales believe like I do in compassionate, socially just, fair government but they also believe in competent government with leaders who understand basic economics so that we don't allow our economy to go down the tubes."

Rural role

The party's only MP in Wales, Mark Williams, was the only MP not offered a departmental role in Mr Farron's team of spokespeople but has since taken on a campaigning role on rural affairs.

The leader said: "He was not made a Westminster spokesperson. More importantly, I gave him the biggest job of all to my mind," said Mr Farron, who is MP for the rural Lake District seat of Westmorland and Lonsdale.

"I would say two thirds of the seats where we're most likely to make advances across the UK are in rural or semi-rural constituencies and I've asked Mark Williams to lead our campaigns on rural issues across the whole of the United Kingdom.

"In many ways that was the key appointment and I didn't want to bog him down with day-to-day stuff in the House of Commons.

"I'm sure he'll be outstanding in that role, not least because of the impact of second home ownership, the difficult time that farmers are facing, the difficult time that people trying to support rural health services in Ceredigion are facing. Those are issues that worry people across rural Britain."