Both Labour leader Keir Starmer and Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey deny that there is any prospect of them forming a coalition government if the next election produces a hung parliament – despite that currently looking like a likely outcome.
Starmer’s reticence can be explained by the fact that if he talks about a coalition it is an admission that he does not expect to win, something his opponents will use against him in the campaign. Davey’s may in part be explained by the disastrous legacy of his party’s coalition with the Conservatives between 2010 and 2015.
Following the 2010 general election, the Conservatives won 307 House of Commons seats and the Liberal Democrats 57 seats. In the next election five years later, the Tories won 331 seats and the Liberal Democrats were reduced to just eight.
