GEO 436 LONDON: Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg held talks with his party’’s lawmakers Saturday as he mulls over a power-sharing deal with the Conservatives to solve Britain’’s political impasse. The Liberal Democrats, the third-biggest party, are responding to Conservative leader David Cameron’’s “big, comprehensive offer” after Thursday’’s general election resulted in the first hung parliament for 36 years. As Clegg went into a meeting of his senior lawmakers in London, he outlined his party’’s priorities, including “fundamental political reform”, but said they were approaching negotiations in a “constructive spirit”. The Conservatives won the most seats in the election but failed to secure the overall majority which would have allowed them to govern alone and immediately remove Prime Minister Gordon Brown’’s Labour Party from power. With Brown still in the prime minister’’s Downing Street residence, Conservative and Liberal Democrat negotiators held a first meeting on Friday. Cameron’’s party wants to finalise a power-sharing deal before the financial markets open on Monday, but Clegg will be wary of a hasty agreement that he cannot sell to party members who must give their approval. The parties are not natural political partners, with the Lib Dems closer to Labour in many areas. “We will very much be making the case for the big four priorities that we”ve always said, well before this election took place, would always guide us,” Clegg told reporters Saturday. “Firstly fair tax reform, secondly a new approach in education to provide the fair start that all children deserve in school, thirdly a new approach to the economy so we can build a new economy from the rubble of the old, and fourthly fundamental political reform to our political system.” Electoral reform is likely to be the biggest sticking point. The Lib Dems want to change Britain’’s first-past-the-post voting system, which penalises small parties, to a system of proportional representation, something the Tories oppose. In making his offer Friday, Cameron insisted there was common ground but only proposed setting up an all-party inquiry into electoral reform, a proposal likely to fall short of Lib Dem demands. Senior Lib Dem lawmaker Simon Hughes said there would be no formal coalition offer for the party to consider Saturday. “There won”t be a deal on the table because the talks have only just begun, but we will discuss where we want to go. “When the talks have gone as far as they can there will have to be a view taken,” he told BBC radio. But the Conservatives” defence spokesman Liam Fox warned the talks could not be “held to ransom” by the Lib Dems demanding proportional representation. He stressed that the Tories had made it clear in the campaign that “we were very much against it”. “What leaders will have to focus on is the fact that the Conservatives are the biggest party and it’’s reasonable that a programme would be followed that put the larger part of our manifesto into place,” he said. If a deal cannot be done, Cameron made clear he was also prepared to try to rule as a minority Conservative government relying on support from smaller parties. The Conservatives have 306 lawmakers in the 650-seat House of Commons, compared to 258 for Labour and 57 for the Liberal Democrats. Brown and Labour are waiting in the wings to talk to the Lib Dems if they and the Conservatives cannot force through a deal, and has tried to entice them with the prospect of immediate legislation on electoral reform. The BBC reported that Brown had clashed with Clegg in a bad-tempered telephone conversation Friday, a claim denied by a Lib Dem source. Power-sharing governments are so unusual in the House of Commons that some commentators said a fresh election might be the only route to a stable government. The pound slumped to a 13-month low against the dollar and London stocks sank on fears the deadlock would hamper Britain’’s ability to tackle its sky-high public debt. The press said a deal to create a stable government was needed fast. The Financial Times said a Tory-Lib Dem pact offered the best hope of stability, while the Daily Telegraph said Britain needed a new government in place before Monday to reassure the markets.
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