LIBERAL DEMOCRAT leader Nick Clegg has strongly indicated that he could agree a coalition with the Labour Party if the latter finishes third in the battle for votes – but only if Gordon Brown stands down as Labour leader.
The electoral threat now posed by the Liberal Democrats was starkly illustrated by some of the toughest attacks on them in the campaign so far from Labour and the Conservatives.
On Sunday, Mr Clegg ruled out dealing with Labour if it falls behind both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats in vote share, if not seats, though this sent his party leaning too close to the Conservatives for the liking of some party members.
He subsequently recast the message, saying: “I don’t think at a time when people will have voted for massive change it would be acceptable to the public to have no change at all, to have the same person in Number 10,” he said.
And he went on: “I will seek to work with whomever to deliver those big changes I want. That seems to me a very straightforward way of approaching what is clearly quite a fluid and changeable situation.”
Both Labour and the Conservatives rounded on the Liberal Democrat leader yesterday, as polls continue to show that it could be on course for up to 100 MP seats.
Leading Labour election strategist Douglas Alexander said: “I think what Nick Clegg is forgetting is that the people are boss. My sense is that [he] has somewhat over-reached himself, maybe intoxicated by the publicity he has received in recent days, in getting into the speculation business. The fact is he has shown clear and consistent hostility towards Labour in recent days.”
Conservative leader David Cameron, despite charges that he is showing signs of panic, was equally critical of Mr Clegg: “It’s now becoming clear he wants to hold the whole country to ransom, just to get what would benefit the Liberal Democrats.”
He insisted that he would not concede the use of proportional representation to the Liberal Democrats, but he avoided speaking about lesser reforms, such as the use of the Alternative Vote.
“We are not proposing a referendum on PR – because we don’t support PR,” he said. “It would be rather strange to have a referendum on things you don’t support. We don’t want PR and we don’t want a referendum on PR.”
Openly dismissive of the Liberal Democrats, Mr Cameron said: “The Liberals are too often away with the fairies. There are so many areas where the Liberal Democrats are misguided. Not replacing Trident is misguided; their policy of having an amnesty for illegal immigration is a mistake. I think the idea of abolishing all sentences less than six months is a huge mistake,” he declared.
Mr Cameron’s willingness to offer electoral reform concessions is still in doubt, but it is clear that his room for manoeuvre is limited in any event because so many of his backbenchers are utterly opposed to change.
Former party leader Iain Duncan Smith said the Tories would not be willing to do a deal on electoral reform in order to win Liberal Democrat support: “I do not believe that it is necessary to change the electoral system,” he said.
Lord Norman Tebbit inaccurately said PR had “brought Hitler to power”.
Shadow chancellor George Osborne held a press conference to warn that a hung parliament could “paralyse” the UK and threaten inflation and interest rate rises, along with a stock market crash.
Such a decision by the electorate would, said Mr Osborne, who is facing some criticism from within Tory ranks for his role in the campaign’s strategy, be “a vote for politics behind closed doors, indecision and weak government, a paralysed economy and yet another election”.
However, the yield on UK gilts has fallen and sterling’s value against the dollar has strengthened during the election campaign, as financiers now believe that, whatever happens, Labour will not be in government.