Deputy prime minister accused of ignoring lawyers requests in Cyril Smith abuse claims

Nick Clegg has been accused of ignoring alleged sex abuse victims of the late Liberal Democrat MP Cyril Smith by failing to respond to formal requests for help, The Guardian has reported.

The deputy prime minister has been sent two letters by a solicitor's firm that represents four men who say they were attacked in the 1960s and 70s by the MP for Rochdale, who died in 2010.

The letters, the first of which was sent seven weeks ago, asked for the release of files from the Liberal Democrat and former Liberal chief whips' offices following the suspicion that Smith's propensity to abuse was common knowledge among senior politicians.

Alan Collins, a partner in the law firm Pannone, said Clegg had failed to acknowledge the letters. He told The Guardian: "We have formally written to Nick Clegg's office on two occasions since 3 January requesting the chief whips' files on the basis of our clients' instructions and a CPS report into allegations of abuse at a hostel in Rochdale," he said.

"We have good reason to believe that they contain information which will show that senior figures in the party were well aware of the allegations against Smith. However, we have not yet received a reply from the deputy prime minister."

Mr Collins has also written to Theresa May, the home secretary, asking for files from the security services to be released.

The Lib Dems' chief whip, Alistair Carmichael, conducted an inquiry into the parliamentary party after the allegations against Smith arose in November. He concluded that senior party figures did not suspect that Smith was a child abuser.

But the former Liberal party leader Lord Steel, when asked by the Guardian, said he had heard rumours that Smith used to deliver punishment beatings to boys.

A spokesman for the Lib Dems told The Guardian: "We have not refused to provide files. We have no files to provide, and we will be responding formally to that effect shortly."

A Lib Dem source said: "There's absolutely no question of anybody withholding anything. It's taken a bit longer to reply than we hoped but that's because we wanted to do as thorough job as possible."