May 11: The Liberal Democrats held negotiations with the Labour and Conservative parties on Tuesday and Britain was no closer to its new government on the fifth day after the general election.
However, after reports on the BBC News and SkyNews that the Labour party had realised that its talks with the LibDems would not reach any positive conclusion, speculation about the Tories and LibDems reaching a deal soon started increasing.
The Liberal Democrats had started the day by negotiating with Labour party in the House of Commons on Tuesday morning. However, they opted to restart negotiations with the Tories at the Cabinet Office at 2 pm.
Tory leader David Cameron and LibDem Nick Clegg met for a private face-to-face meeting on Tuesday morning and now all eyes are on the outcome of the negotiations between the Tory and LibDem teams in the Cabinet Office.
The two teams have been negotiating since 2 pm and it is being speculated that a Tory-LibDem deal could materialise at some time on Tuesday. This could put Mr Cameron in the seat as the next Prime Minister.
LibDem deputy leader Vince Cable told SkyNews that a power-sharing deal between the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives was “close to being done.”
However, even if the negotiating teams reach an agreement, Mr Clegg will need approval from his party to be able to formally go ahead with the deal.
The Liberal Democrat parliamentary party and federal executive will meet on Tuesday night. At least three-quarters of the members of both the parliamentary party and the executive must support the coalition before Mr Clegg can formally agree to a deal with the Tories. Mr Cameron will meet his MPs at 8 pm.
The Conservatives on Monday evening had upped their offer after LibDems announced formal coalition talks with the Labour party. They offered a referendum on scrapping the first-past-the-post system for general election and offered the alternative vote system to placate the LibDems. Under the AV system, voters have to rate candidates in a single-member constituency in numerical order and votes are redistributed until one candidate has more than 50 per cent support.
However, Liberal Democrats are keen on the single transferable vote system, which would produce a result in line with the proportion of votes cast for each party.
The Labour and Liberal Democrat negotiating teams held formal talks in the House of Commons on Tuesday morning. Prime Minister Gordon Brown went to the House of Commons at afternoon and after the talks ended in the early afternoon he met senior Labour members and his Cabinet. Again, there was speculation that Mr Brown will resign as soon as the Tory-LibDem teams reach a deal.
However, there was no confirmation on this from 10 Downing Street till 5.30 pm.
Despite Mr Brown’s announcement of his intention to resign as the leader of the Labour party all potential contestants for the post have been silent about their intentions.
“No candidate will be declaring anything until the future of the government has been sorted out whether that is Conservative-Liberal or Labour-Liberal,” foreign secretary David Miliband said on Tuesday morning.
The day started on Tuesday with Mr Cameron, in a statement outside his home on Tuesday morning, making it clear that Mr Nick Clegg had to take a decision. “I’ve made a very full, very open, very reasonable offer to the Liberal Democrats to deliver that stable government. My own members of Parliament have shown that they are prepared to put aside party interest in the national interest by agreeing a referendum on the alternative vote,” he said.
The Tory leader, in remarks directed to Mr Clegg, said: “It’s now, I believe, decision time — decision time for the Liberal Democrats — and I hope they make the right decision to give this country the strong, stable government that it badly needs and it badly needs quickly.”
Mr Clegg, started the day on Tuesday, defending his decision to talk to both the Labour and Conservative parties. “The discussions between the political parties has now reached a critical and final phase. I’m as inpatient as anybody else to get on with this, to resolve matters one way or another,” he said outside his south London house.
“We will act, as ever, responsibly. We will act to try and do our bit to create a stable, good government the British people deserve. I really hope we will be able to make an announcement so we can clean up everything and explain to people exactly what our thinking is as quickly as we possibly can.”