This Article is From May 10, 2010

Tories woo Lib Dems, Labour waits in the wings

London:
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This may be the first time Britain has a coalition government since the Second World War, as all the three major parties discuss power sharing possibilities.

While Conservative party, the single largest party with 306 seats, tries to thrash out a deal with the Liberal Democrats whose 57 seats give them the numbers they are looking for, Liberal Democrats leader Nick Clegg is keeping his options open by talking to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown as well.

Clegg seems to be the most sought after man in Westminster at the moment as both Cameron and Brown are desperate that he allies with them.

Negotiators for both the Tories and Liberal Democrats had marathon discussions to hammer out a power sharing deal. Both said these talks had been positive but they would meet again in the next 24 hours.

"Well, we've had some very positive and productive discussions over many key policy areas. The issues that we have covered have included political reform, economic issues and reduction of the deficit, banking reform, civil liberties, and environmental issues," said William Hague, Conservative negotiator.

"We're agreed that any agreement made will have deficit reduction and a credible plan to ensure economic stability at its heart," said Danny Alexander, Liberal Democrat negotiator.

But political analysts are sceptical about the possibility of the right-wing and centre-left party sharing power or even cooperating on keeping a minority Conservative administration in control of Parliament.

The possible deal breaker could be the issue of proportional representation, which is the Liberal Democrats main agenda. They want to get rid of the present first-past-the-post system, which the Tory MPs strongly oppose.

Meanwhile Gordon Brown has through an email to Labour party members said they are watching these talks closely and will try and form the government in case talks between Tories and Liberal Democrats fail.

It has now also been confirmed that Nick Clegg and Gordon Brown met and held private talks to form what is being called a Lib-Lab coalition.

While these negotiations could drag on for days, uncertainty is making the markets jittery.
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