CNews London, England: British political parties resumed negotiations for a new government Tuesday, five days after the national election failed to produce a clear winner.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who announced his intention Monday to step down, was keeping a low profile Tuesday morning.
Brown’s Labour Party said talks were under way with the Liberal Democrats, who came third in the election, but party spokesmen declined to give details.
“We had a good meeting last night, and we decided we’d resume today,” Labour negotiator and Cabinet member Ed Balls told Sky News on Tuesday. “There’s some areas of agreement, there’s also some difficult issues. We need to take the time to get it right.”
Balls said Labour was trying to protect its main policies in negotiations with the Liberal Democrats, “but also, the country needs a stable government, and that’s what we’ve got to see if we can achieve.”
The Liberal Democrats held a meeting late Monday night with their own members of Parliament to discuss developments. The party later said members endorsed the strategy of party leader Nick Clegg, though they did not say what that strategy was.
“I’m as impatient as anybody else to get on with this, to resolve matters one way or another,” Clegg said Tuesday morning outside his London home. “My parliamentary party was up into the small hours yet again discussing things.”
Clegg said he hoped to make an announcement to “clear up everything” soon.
Over the weekend and again on Monday, the Liberal Democrats held talks with the Conservatives, who received the most votes in last Thursday’s election but not enough to form a majority.
One possibility is a coalition between the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives, which would give the latter the majority they need in the House of Commons. The parties remain far apart on key policies, however.
Conservative leader David Cameron said Tuesday morning he had made a “very open, very reasonable offer” to the Liberal Democrats during the discussions and that it was now “decision time” for Clegg’s party.
“I hope they make the right decision,” Cameron said outside his London home.
Brown’s decision to step down as head of the Labour Party effectively means he is leaving the post of prime minister, but it will not happen right away. He said he hoped a new leader would be in place by the next party conference, which is scheduled for September.
While Brown stays in office for now, it means Clegg is negotiating without knowing who his future partner will be in any coalition.
Top Labour party members declined to speculate Tuesday on Brown’s replacement.
“No candidates will be declaring anything until the future government has been sorted out, either a Conservative-Liberal government or a Labour-Liberal government,” Foreign Secretary David Miliband said outside his home Tuesday.
“I think it’s completely not the moment for that at all,” Balls said. “There’ll be plenty of time for those kind of things in weeks and weeks’ time, but not now.”
A Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition would command a clear majority of seats in the House of Commons, but there are wide gulfs between the two parties on many policies.
It is unclear if the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats are discussing a formal coalition or Liberal Democrat support for a minority Conservative government.
Labour and the Liberal Democrats have more in common, but a coalition between them would fall just short of a majority in the Commons. A handful of lawmakers from smaller parties might be able to push a Labour-Liberal-Democrat coalition over the top.
It is extremely rare for no one party to win a majority in the House of Commons. The last time the country had a so-called “hung parliament” was in 1974, and voters were back at the polls within a year of that happening.
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