THE CONSERVATIVE Party will come under pressure today to increase its coalition offer to the Liberal Democrats, as Labour Party negotiators bid to hold on to office, following prime minister Gordon Brown’s decision yesterday to stand down in September.
Liberal Democrat MPs met at 10.30pm last night to consider the competing offers that are already on the table from the Conservatives and Labour, amid clear evidence that they are badly divided about what to do next.
The Conservatives, who had believed up to late afternoon that major progress had been made in three days of talks with the third-largest party, are now furious with the Liberal Democrats, accusing them of bad faith.
Labour has put together a high-powered negotiating team, including Lord Peter Mandelson, party deputy leader Harriet Harman, former Liberal Democrat Lord Andrew Adonis, and fellow cabinet ministers Ed Miliband and Ed Balls.
However, there is no place for foreign secretary David Miliband, who had been ready to declare his candidature to replace Mr Brown last evening, until he and other contenders were pressured to delay.
Mr Brown intends to stay on as leader until September, when the contest will be concluded – which would require the Liberal Democrats to sign up for a deal, if that can be done, without knowing who will eventually take over from Mr Brown.
The Conservatives have offered the Liberal Democrats a referendum on the Alternative Vote – a limited reform where MPs are elected by 50 per cent of the vote, along with a guarantee that a coalition would last for a set number of years.
Speaking after Conservative MPs met in the Commons, Conservative shadow chancellor George Osborne said the party would go no further: “On the issue of electoral reform we have reached our bottom line.”
Following the Liberal Democrats’ decision to open talks with Labour, party leader Nick Clegg spoke last night for 25 minutes with Conservative leader David Cameron, who told Mr Clegg that he faces “an urgent choice”.
Up until Labour’s arrival onto the pitch, the Conservatives had offered the Liberal Democrats the option of supporting a minority Tory administration for a guaranteed period of 2½ years, in return for some policy concessions. In addition, the Conservatives were prepared to go as far as a formal coalition lasting a full parliamentary term, though the negotiation of the finer points of such a deal would take longer to work out.
Speaking outside No 10 Downing Street at 5pm, Mr Brown said he would stand down in September after he had negotiated a “progressive” coalition with the Liberal Democrats, if that can be done.
His move came just minutes after Mr Clegg had offered Labour the opportunity to open negotiations – something which Mr Clegg had refused to do up until then on the grounds that the Conservatives had won the most votes and seats.
Mr Clegg and his senior advisers brought Labour back centre stage after they became alarmed by the response of some Liberal Democrat MPs when the party’s negotiators briefed them shortly after 1pm.
Labour is now offering the speedy passage of legislation to introduce the Alternative Vote system, without a referendum, even though the party promised one in its general election manifesto.
In addition, Labour is prepared to agree to a subsequent referendum on full proportional representation – a move the party has vigorously rejected for decades since it would consume much of its support.
AV is not a proportional voting system and is far from the Liberal Democrats’ preferred option, but then Labour’s offer of a PR referendum would be vigorously opposed by many Labour MPs.
Conservative negotiator William Hague said the Liberal Democrats could support a Labour-led alliance “that would not be stable or secure” and that would offer the UK a second unelected prime minister.
This, he said, is “something we believe would be unacceptable to the people of this country, [while the imposition of] voting reform on the country without any consultation [is] something that would be profoundly undemocratic’.