The Lib Dems say they would do a coalition deal with either Labour or the Tories to stay in government

David Laws says Lib Dem policy is 'what my constituents would want'

(ANDY RAIN/EPA)

The Liberal Democrats would happily form a coalition with either Labour or the Conservatives after the election if it let them stay in government, a senior Liberal Democrat has said.

David Laws, a Lib Dem minister who led the party’s negotiating team in 2010, said his party’s priority would be to stay in government, because it was “what my constituents would want”.

“It’s not a question of talking about one particular political party … we can’t rule in or out either Labour or the Conservative party. We have to be prepared, if there is a balanced parliament, to talk to either of them,” he told ITV1’s Good Morning Britain programme.

“We would certainly go into a coalition if there was a hung parliament … we’re not prejudging with which party.”

He added that delivering Liberal Democrat policies would be the priority in coalition negotiations.

“If you ask me whether the right thing to do if there is a hung parliament is to go into a coalition government and try and deliver the things that Liberal Democrats are passionate about.

“I’d say that we have to step up to the plate in the event of a hung parliament. That’s what my constituents would want us to do.”

Despite the polls currently pointing to a hung parliament there has been little talk of a Liberal Democrat-Labour coalition, with most pundits focusing on the possibility of the SNP supporting a Labour minority government.

By contrast with the Liberal Democrats, the Scottish National Party has said it would not do a deal with the Conservatives.

Ed Miliband has not ruled out a coalition with the liberals, however – despite having done so with the SNP.

Some Liberal Democrat figures, including Tim Farron, a suggested future leader, have indicated that they would prefer a supply and confidence arrangement to a formal coalition.

In 2012 Ed Balls appeared to indicate that Nick Clegg would have to step down as leader in order to allow a Lib-Lab coalition to take place.

The Labour position appears to have soften since then, however, with the shadow chancellor telling the New Statesman the party would “deal with the situation as we find it” after the election.