The atmosphere was chaotic. Given the outcome, no-one knew what was going to happen. The Nationalists had finished a few thousand votes ahead of Labour, yet Labour had managed to gain one more seat. The phones rang out constantly. We were fielding calls from both Paul Sinclair and Mike Russell, both of whom were wanting to begin coalition talks. The major issue with this was that even if we entered coalition with either party, we would be one or two seats short of a majority, something which increased the bargaining position of the Greens. Through it all, Nicol remained surprisingly calm. It was his decision to contact the Greens with the agreement that we would negotiate as a bloc, thus ensuring whoever we went with a narrow majority. It was at this point the call went out to Patrick Harvie.
Jim Wallace Diaries, 4th May, 2007.
Mike Russell was on the phone constantly on behalf of the SNP, as was Paul Sinclair for Labour. Both sides were basically demanding talks to begin. It was at this juncture that we received a call from Nicol Stephen on behalf of the Liberal Democrats. He made the reasonable point that both of the larger parties would seek to extract the maximum possible concessions out of both. The only real risk with this strategy was that Labour and the SNP would hold out the twenty-eight days and go to the polls again, with a potentially more decisive result. A minority government given the result would be untenable and would probably not last the full term. We made our way with haste to meet the Lib Dem team that afternoon.
Patrick Harvie. The Coalition, Mainstream Publishing, 2012.
Jim Wallace Diaries, 4th May, 2007.
Mike Russell was on the phone constantly on behalf of the SNP, as was Paul Sinclair for Labour. Both sides were basically demanding talks to begin. It was at this juncture that we received a call from Nicol Stephen on behalf of the Liberal Democrats. He made the reasonable point that both of the larger parties would seek to extract the maximum possible concessions out of both. The only real risk with this strategy was that Labour and the SNP would hold out the twenty-eight days and go to the polls again, with a potentially more decisive result. A minority government given the result would be untenable and would probably not last the full term. We made our way with haste to meet the Lib Dem team that afternoon.
Patrick Harvie. The Coalition, Mainstream Publishing, 2012.