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Britain has now had 7 months of coalition government following the inconclusive general election result. Some people have argued that the Liberal Democrats had no alternative to enter into a coalition but it wasn’t the only possible scenario given the result. The challenge I am posing is what would have happened if there was no agreement.
There are some parameters to follow in deciding the scenario. Firstly the general election result must be the same so there would be no difference in the strengths of the various parties. Secondly the scenarios have to be plausible which probably rules out a Rainbow coalition with a slender majority and reliant on an agreed programme by four of five parties; the Labour Party, Liberal Democrats, SNP and Plaid Cymru. A minority government however is plausible by either of the two major parties although more likely with one than the other.
The protocol of Gordon Brown having the right to attempt to from a government has to be followed before the Queen asks anyone else. However any government not only needs to command the support of the House of Commons but also needs to demonstrate that it requires a majority to government before a request to grant dissolution is allowed.
Apart from this any scenario has to consider how long a government can last and what issues it can successfully trigger a defeat in the House of Commons on that is likely to result in winning a resultant election. Any government has to decide on; how to deal with the financial crisis and how to react to the Browne report on university funding. Also any scenario needs to take into account how the opposition parties are likely to react to whatever policies a minority government proposes.
Please don’t claim there was no alternative even if coalition might have been the least worse option.Also this thread is not about the future of the Liberal Democrats but what would have happened, although the former is part of the latter