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I'm not the new Maggie
Deputy PM Nick Clegg vowed his government would not take Sheffield back to the "destructive days" of the 1980s as political heavyweights debated the future of the city.
He invoked memories of Thatcher's Britain to say he and his coalition partners would not follow the same path as the former Premier.
The Hallam MP spoke as protesters taunted him with calls of "Tory Boy". He was heckled as the vision for Sheffield was discussed by city and business leaders, including former Home Secretary David Blunkett and Lib Dem council leader Paul Scriven.
Outside The Sheffield First Partnership Leadership Summit, union leaders and campaigners staged a protest and accused Mr Clegg of "conducting a war on working people".
Hillsborough and Brightside MP Mr Blunkett warned the audience to prepare for a "post-Soviet" scenario if the Government's proposed cuts were enacted.
Mr Clegg said he remained an 'upbeat optimist' for the future of the Sheffield economy as city leaders met to discuss the challenges of the next 10 years.
The Sheffield First Partnership Leadership Summit, attended by councillors, government officials and leading figures from charities and businesses, was called to decide Sheffield's city strategy to 2020.
The conference took place against a backdrop of massive public spending cuts - including up to 253 million which will be slashed from the council budget by 2015 - according to new estimates released by Labour MP David Blunkett.
Mr Blunkett warned the audience to prepare for a 'post-Soviet' scenario if the predicted cuts came about.
He said he believed the Government was planning to scrap the Area Based Grant - worth 611m to South Yorkshire councils - although Mr Clegg denied that was on the cards.
The Hillsborough and Brightside MP said: "If that grant goes, this city will be in meltdown. It will be almost like the post-Soviet position, with people fending for themselves."
The former Home Secretary said the cuts would hit the most vulnerable hardest. He is to ask the Equalities Commission to investigate whether the Government is fulfilling "its legal duty to the poorest".
Mr Clegg deflected union claims that the cuts would bring back the worst of the Thatcher years.
"It's not going to be like the 1980s," he said. "In the 1980s whole industries were decimated and whole communities were uprooted.
"To compare the two is totally and utterly wrong and will be confounded by what we are doing in the coming years. We are not going after particular industries or particular communities. We are trying to balance the books.
"People have got to recognise that there is nothing fair about us placing our debts on the shoulders of the next generation."
He said Sheffield couldn't "duck the difficult decisions" to cope with "the biggest upheaval in the post-war period".
He added: "If we can work across party lines, I remain a very upbeat optimist for the future of our city."
He also defended the coalition's decision to scrap an 80 million loan to Sheffield Forgemasters - whose chief executive Graham Honeyman was in the audience.
"Forgemasters has become a prism for which the whole debate about the future of the city has come to be seen," he said. "It is simply not right that one decision alone represents a wider attitude about Sheffield."
READ MORE: Clegg faces fury at cuts agenda - see The Star, Saturday, September 4, 2010.
READ MORE: New hope for Forgemasters - see The Star, Saturday, September 4, 2010.
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