Alex Deane: The Lib Dems - no promises on Coalition, at or after the next election

By Alex Deane

There has been much speculation about what happens with the Coalition at the ballot box at the next election, and thereafter, with plenty of senior Tories - including Sir John Major - appearing in the media to champion the notion of an ongoing coalition. But a motion being proposed by the Lib Dem Federal Executive at the forthcoming Liberal Democrat Spring Conference (in Sheffield, 11-13 March) seems to put an abrupt end to all that.

The business motion from the Federal Executive called “Strategy, Positioning and Priorities” states:

The Liberal Democrats will fight the next general election in Great Britain as an independent party without any pacts or agreements with any other party and presenting our Manifesto as the clear and distinct basis for liberal government. 

And, even more eye-catching:

The Liberal Democrats intend to enter the next general election campaign with no preference for potential future coalition partners.