Clegg is urged to abandon deal as Tories rule out vote reform

[Turborama]

Source: The Independent on Sunday

Leading Conservatives react with horror to a day of shuttle diplomacy between Lib Dem leader and David Cameron as thousands demonstrate in favour of PR, joining voices calling for the creation of 'traffic light' coalition of the left


Nick Clegg addressing 'fair votes' protesters in Smith Square, where the Lib Dems held their talks

By Jane Merrick, Brian Brady, Jonathan Owen and Lewis Smith

Nick Clegg was urged by senior figures in his party last night to back a "traffic light coalition" with Labour, Green and smaller parties amid signs that David Cameron's proposed deal to the Liberal Democrats has triggered an angry backlash among Tory and Lib Dem MPs.

The Lib Dem and Conservative leaders met last night for "constructive" face-to-face talks to try to reach a deal before markets open tomorrow morning. Earier, after a crucial meeting with his party in Westminster to gauge reaction to a Lib-Con coalition, Mr Clegg addressed a 1,000-strong crowd protesting in favour of electoral reform to insist that proportional representation was still key to the talks.

Senior Lib Dem figures were pressing Mr Clegg to shun Mr Cameron's overtures because the Tories would never deliver on PR. And in a major blow to the Lib Dem leader, senior Tory sources made clear there would be no further concessions on electoral reform – presenting Mr Clegg with a hardball "take it or leave it" deal – and that Mr Cameron would press ahead with a minority government if coalition talks collapsed. Talks between Lib Dems and Tory negotiating teams will resume at 11am today.

At a key point in a fast-moving day in Westminster yesterday, demonstrators armed with a petition of 30,000 signatures calling for proportional representation chanted "no more wasted votes" and "we want Nick" outside a meeting of the Lib Dems' 57 MPs at Local Government House in Smith Square. The signatures were collected in the 24 hours since the general election resulted in a hung parliament, demanding that whatever form the new government takes it must scrap the first-past-the-post system and introduce democratic reform.

To cheers from the crowd, Mr Clegg told protesters: "Take it from me, reforming politics is one of the reasons I went into politics. I campaigned for a better, more open, more transparent new politics every single day of this general election campaign. I genuinely believe it is in the national interest, it is in the interests of everybody in Great Britain for us to use this opportunity to usher in a new politics after the discredited politics of the past."

Yet the lively scenes were overshadowed by a furious reaction from grandees in the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties to the prospect of a pact between the two. The Independent on Sunday understands that some of the most senior figures in the Lib Dems are urging Mr Clegg to go for a Lib-Lab coalition – despite the Tories winning the most seats.

The "traffic light coalition" would bring together the red of Labour, yellow of the Lib Dems and the one Green MP alongside three from the SDLP, one Alliance member and the independent Lady Sylvia Hermon, without the need to rely on the SNP, Plaid Cymru, the DUP or Ulster Unionists. They would total 321 MPs – although this would still fall short of the 326 needed for a majority.

Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/clegg-is-urged-to-abandon-deal-as-tories-rule-out-vote-reform-1969467.html

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(Note to mods: Apologies but I had to go slightly over the paragraph limit as I couldn't work out how to edit it without losing some context)

There's a lot more to this article including several quotes from Liberal Democrat MPs and what the other Sunday papers are saying.

Videos of Clegg addressing the protesters yesterday: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x463153

Related article from The Independent on Sunday: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/so-david-cameron-why-did-you-fail-to-seal-the-deal-1969216.html">So, David Cameron, why did you fail to seal the deal?