Coalition - Your Questions Answered
The coalition between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats is the first in Britain for over 80 years. Here we answer some frequently asked questions:
"Why did we need a coalition?"
In the House of Commons there are 650 MPs, so you need 326 MPs to have a majority and form a government on your own. In May 2010, the public elected 307 Conservatives, 258 Labour, and 57 Lib Dem MPs, plus 28 MPs from minor parties, so no one party had a majority on its own.
"Why did you go into coalition with the Conservatives?"
Because they won the most seats and the most votes. Throughout the election, Nick Clegg repeated that the party with the most seats and the most votes would have the right to try to form a coalition. The Conservatives then agreed to do a lot of the things the Liberal Democrats had campaigned on during the election, including making the tax system fairer, protecting civil liberties and reforming parliament. Progress has already been made on all of these things.
"Shouldn't you have worked with Labour?"
Some leading Labour MPs refused to consider this, but although others were ready to agree the fact is that Labour and Lib Dem MPs only add up to 315. We would have had to include some of the minor parties and that would have made a very unstable government, which would have been very unlikely to last long, and certainly could not have taken the tough decisions needed to fix the country's finances.
"Why didn't you let the Tories govern on their own?"
They would not have had had a majority either and so the government would probably not have lasted long. A stable government is essential to enable the government to tackle the financial mess. The last thing Britain needed at this difficult time was the uncertainty of another General Election soon after the first one! One which the Tories would have fought on the theme that the Lib Dems had run away from government, were not serious about Britain's problems, and that they now needed a real mandate to govern.
"What about the policies you don't agree with?"
In a coalition, both parties have to accept some policies they would not choose, in exchange for putting in place the things they most believe in. We are very pleased to see many measures we have campaigned for years being put in place as a result of the coalition agreement. We fought the election to get things done!
"Are you going to merge with the Conservatives?"
Certainly not! The Liberal Democrats remain a separate political party, with our own clear policies. We will continue to fight for the things we believe in at all elections - and against the Conservatives.
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