LIBERAL DEMOCRAT leader Nick Clegg is under pressure to reach a deal with the Conservatives this weekend after the British election produced a hung parliament.
Putting “a big, open and comprehensive offer” to the Liberal Democrats, Conservative leader David Cameron left open the possibilities of running a minority government or agreeing a coalition deal with Mr Clegg.
The Conservative leader was put in pole position after his Liberal Democrat counterpart said Mr Cameron had the most votes and seats and now needed to show whether the Conservatives were “capable of seeking to govern in the national interest”.
Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg spoke for 30 minutes last night, after which negotiators from both parties met, including George Osborne and William Hague for the Tories and Chris Huhne and Danny Alexander for the Liberal Democrats.
Conservatives privately argue that progress must be made before the financial markets open on Monday, or else risk a rise in British bond rates and further falls in the value of sterling.
Developments were being watched closely by political leaders in the North in the belief they could still have a role to play in the formation of the next British government.
A failure by the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats to reach agreement could open the possibility of a Labour-led government supported by the Liberal Democrats and MPs from parties in the North.
A Democratic Unionist Party source said the possibility of its eight MPs supporting a Labour-led government could not be ruled out “if the price were right”.
The DUP’s representation in the Commons has been reduced from nine to eight as a result of the shock defeat of its leader, Peter Robinson, in East Belfast.
There was no immediate question last night over Mr Robinson’s leadership of the DUP or his role as First Minister, according to party colleagues.
Ulster Unionist leader Sir Reg Empey, however, is under pressure following his own poor showing in South Antrim and the party’s failure to win a seat.
He met party officers yesterday for private talks and is due to report to his Assembly group at Stormont on Monday.
In Britain the Liberal Democrats, down five seats, are more determined than ever to secure the abolition of the first-past-the-post electoral system but Mr Cameron has so far offered only to create a parliamentary committee to investigate.
Former Liberal Democrat leader Menzies Campbell has already rejected this, saying that the party had “been round this course before” under the Jenkins Commission set up by Tony Blair in his early days as prime minister in 1997.
David Steel, another former leader, said Mr Clegg was “not going to buy” Mr Cameron’s inquiry offer. Newly elected Liberal Democrat MPs meet on Sunday and the party’s governing body will meet today.
Mr Cameron’s decision to make an offer to the Liberal Democrats, including a coalition without a guarantee of electoral reform, was supported by a group of 40 Conservative MPs last night.
Queen Elizabeth was briefed by her private secretary Christopher Geidt who, in turn, spoke to cabinet secretary Gus O’Donnell on the efforts that are being made to form a government.
The Conservative leader may be prepared to offer the Liberal Democrats the chance to introduce their own reform legislation, though this would have few attractions for the Liberal Democrats since it would require the support of Labour MPs and some Conservatives in a free vote for the measure to be passed.
Labour, on the other hand, has already offered to hold a referendum on the introduction of the Alternative Vote system – where candidates need 50 per cent of the vote to be elected, and hinted that it would go further.
Former prime minister John Major recommended a full Conservative/Liberal Democrat alliance to deal with the UK’s £160 billion annual deficit and near-£1 trillion borrowings. “I don’t think people realise how serious this structural deficit is,” he said.
“That can be best dealt with by a government that is secure in the House of Commons. If the price for that is one or two Liberals in the cabinet, it’s a price in the national interest that I personally would be prepared to bear.”
The Conservatives won 306, up 97; Labour won 258, down 91; the Liberal Democrats were down five to 57; the Democratic Unionists down one to eight; and the Scottish National Party, Sinn Féin, Plaid Cymru and the SDLP were unchanged at six, five, three and three respectively.
The difficulties with the first-past-the-post system were illustrated in an analysis which showed that the Conservatives won a seat for 35,021 votes; Labour won one for every 33,338; but the Liberals secured 119,397 votes for every seat they won.
The Conservatives have ended up short of a majority, even though they won 500,000 more votes than Labour did under Tony Blair in 2005 when he enjoyed a majority of 67.
The British National Party was given a serious rebuff by voters, losing all its seats on Barking Council in East London, while the party’s leader Nick Griffin was defeated in the House of Commons race there.