Air getting in to diesel

[isisalar]

I think I've got air getting into my diesel,and it seems to be getting worse.
A few weeks ago the first symptoms were it felt like it was running out of diesel ie.losing power intermittently for a second or two and then running ok,it was VERY low at the time so I assumed that I'd been lucky to get to the petrol station.
When starting now it occasionally needs cranking far longer than it ever has before.
This week it has taken to dying after about a minutes running after a cold start,will restart after much cranking,with the momentary power loss for the first few miles.
I've given the bulb a squeeze and can hear 'bubbles'.
I may have answered my own question,I just went out to the car to see how hard the bubble would get and saw that diesel was leaking from the feed into the filter housing.It's on the rubber hose after it does a U bend into the housing, original clip still in place.Is it ok to cut the tube back and re fix with a jubilee clip?
I'll do this this afternoon and leave the post up in case it helps anyone else.
Thanks.
Paul