General election: Clegg declares Lib Dems open to new coalition

Nick Clegg has declared the Liberal Democrats open to business for a coalition with Labour or the Conservatives, unveiling a manifesto designed to allow a post-election deal with either of the two big parties.

Mr Clegg cast his party as the kingmakers in a hung parliament, presenting a centrist policy prospectus that he said contrasted with the "grievance" politics of Ukip and the Scottish National party.

"Someone will hold the balance of power on May 8," he said. "It could be Nigel Farage or Alex Salmond or it could be me and the Liberal Democrats."

Mr Clegg said his party would add "heart" to a Conservative government and "head" to an administration led by Ed Miliband and that he would finish reducing the deficit quickly and fairly.

David Cameron said on Wednesday night that he was "fighting for a majority" as he reflected on the possibility that he might not hit the mark.

"We are only 23 seats short and if I fall short of those 23 seats I will feel I have not succeeded in what I wanted to achieve," the prime minister said in a BBC interview.

Polls suggest the Lib Dems will return to Westminster on May 8 a diminished force - they are forecast to lose half the 57 seats they won in 2010 - but they could still play a pivotal role.

The Lib Dems are the only viable coalition partner for Mr Cameron, while Mr Clegg calculates that Mr Miliband would prefer to work with the moderate Lib Dems than the anti-austerity SNP - if the numbers add up.

Mr Clegg used the manifesto launch to tackle those Lib Dems who believe the party has suffered such a battering in coalition with the Tories that they should simply sit out the next parliament on the opposition benches.

He urged his party to repeat the "gutsy" decision to join the coalition in 2010 and said he had no regrets: "Every day has been worth it because we made Britain better."

The manifesto, he said, was "made for government, not opposition" while David Laws, its author, said voters would laugh if the party said it wanted to spend the next five years "recharging its batteries".

<

The tabular content relating to this article is not available to view. Apologies in advance for the inconvenience caused.

Mr Clegg has put the non-negotiable parts of the manifesto on the front cover and it appears none of these would be a potential deal-breaker in talks with either Labour or Tories.

The party's economic policy is positioned midway between the two bigger parties. Unlike the Conservatives, the Lib Dems would raise taxes on banks and the wealthy to cut the deficit; unlike Labour they want to balance the books by 2017/18.

The Lib Dems would also spend £2.5bn more on education, promote green causes, invest £8bn in the NHS and raise the personal tax allowance to £12,500: the last two policies are also in the Conservative manifesto and are unlikely to be opposed by Labour.

However, there are two potential "tuition fee"-style problems for Mr Clegg on the inside pages, which could complicate coalition negotiations.

<>The first is the party's opposition to an EU referendum - barring an unlikely treaty change shifting power from Westminster to Brussels - which is in line with the Labour position.

Mr Clegg would ask a big price to support the Conservative plan for a referendum by 2017, including possibly the introduction of proportional representation for local elections.

Mr Clegg has been careful to say that the Lib Dem policy on a referendum is not a "red line" but he could have bigger problems trading away the party's outright opposition to the expansion of any of London's airports.

Sir Howard Davies's airports review will conclude in the autumn with Labour and Conservatives both under pressure to implement its recommendations, including a possible new runway at Heathrow.

Mr Clegg tried and failed to persuade his party conference to soften the policy last autumn. Lib Dem MPs who represent several seats affected by aircraft noise in west London would revolt if he backed down.

Bookmakers give odds of 2/1 on the Lib Dems being election kingmakers; if they were to win 30 seats or so they could just about help Mr Cameron or Mr Miliband over the finishing line of 325 seats.

For another coalition to happen, either of the Conservative or Labour leaders would have to give up on forming a minority government and turn to Mr Clegg for formal support, including offering cabinet positions to Lib Dems.

Any coalition deal would then have to be agreed by MPs and, in the case of the Lib Dems, at a special conference of party members. Tim Farron, the leftwing Lib Dem MP tipped as a successor to Mr Clegg, has expressed reservations.

But one ally to Mr Clegg said: "Nobody thought the party would agree to a coalition last time, especially with the Tories. But we're more responsible than many people think."

© The Financial Times Limited 2015. All rights reserved.
FT and Financial Times are trademarks of the Financial Times Ltd.
Not to be redistributed, copied or modified in any way.
Euro2day.gr is solely responsible for providing this translation and the Financial Times Limited does not accept any liability for the accuracy or quality of the translation