Talks on forming a new government reached “decision time” yesterday, after British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Monday dramatically vowed to stand down to keep his party in power following a poll deadlock.
The three main political parties held more frantic negotiations after Brown announced he would step down as Labour leader, confounding expectations that the Conservatives would strike a deal with the smaller Liberal Democrats.
The Lib Dems, led by Nick Clegg, are now talking to both the Conservatives and Labour, despite warnings that a Lib Dem-Labour coalition would be unstable and unnerve jittery financial markets.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Tory leader David Cameron piled pressure on the Lib Dems to decide which way to jump after his Conservatives offered them a make-or-break concession on their touchstone issue of electoral reform on Monday.
“It’s now I believe decision time, decision time for the Liberal Democrats,” Cameron said. “I hope they make the right decision that will give this country the strong, stable government it badly needs and badly needs quickly.”
Clegg, meanwhile, said negotiations were entering a “critical and final phase,” adding he was as “impatient as anyone else” for a decision.
“I’m certainly hopeful of getting a resolution as quickly as possible,” he said.
One of Cameron’s closest lieutenants, George Osborne, insisted that only a Lib Dem deal with the Conservatives could bring Britain the stability it needs as it battles to reduce record public debt.
He said he expected to know within hours if it would be possible to reach a deal with the Lib Dems.
In last Thursday’s general election, the Conservatives won 306 seats in the 650-member House of Commons — 20 short of a clear majority of 326 — followed by Labour on 258 and the Lib Dems on 57.
Labour and the Lib Dems together would still not have enough seats for a clear majority and would probably require help from smaller parties like the Scottish and Welsh nationalists.
Brown’s act of political self-sacrifice marks the beginning of the end of his premiership, but if a Labour-Lib Dem deal is agreed, he could stay on as a caretaker ahead of a leadership contest due by September.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband is the odds-on favorite to replace Brown as Labour Party leader, although the lengthy leadership contest will not begin until a deal on the new government is agreed.
Miliband appeared to confirm he would stand when he told reporters in a brief statement: “I’m not going to be saying anything more and none of the candidates are going to be saying anything more either.”
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