Charles Kennedy has pledged that his new-look frontbench team will hold the government to account.

The Liberal Democrat leader was upbeat on Tuesday with the first meeting of his shadow Cabinet following last week's reshuffle.

Kennedy told ePolitix.com he believed the party has spokesmen capable of making a sizable impact on the Conservatives at the3 next election.

"This is an enormously strong and widely respected team who will lead the party through to the next general election," he said.

He claimed the party - which has slipped back seven points in the latest ICM/Guardian opinion poll - would also be able to capitalise on Conservative difficulties.

"As the Tories continue to self-destruct, it is increasingly clear that the Liberal Democrats are now the effective opposition to the Labour government," Kennedy said.

"Unlike Iain Duncan Smith and his kamikaze colleagues, the Liberal Democrat shadow Cabinet are united in representing the best interests of the British people and holding this government to account."

The Lib Dem reshuffle saw Mark Oaten, widely thought to be one of the Lib Dems' most "small c" conservatives, replace Simon Hughes as the party's home affairs spokesman.

Oaten, who was the chairman of the parliamentary party, is seen as a rising star in Lib Dem ranks and has played a key strategic role.

Hughes will remain a member of the Kennedy team as the party's candidate for the London mayoral race.

Another surprise was the decision to move Matthew Taylor from being the main Treasury spokesman to the post of party chairman.

Taylor's job was taken by Vincent Cable, a former member of the Labour Party and oil industry economist.

Paul Burstow took the health portfolio from Dr Evan Harris, who stood down for personal reasons.Lord Greaves, the party's environment spokesman in the Lords, claimed the reshuffle was a shift to the right.

"It's a disaster because the people who have been promoted represent a small group of rightwing, so-called economic liberals whose views have very little support in the wider party," he said.

But the party' foreign affairs spokesman, Menzies Campbell, played down the remarks and rejected the idea that the changes amounted to an ideological shift.

"It was a reward for competence and ability and it is an effort to make maximum use of the talent that is available," he told ePolitix.com.