While a coalition may not have been the result that the main parties wanted, this appears to be the will of the electorate. Perhaps more importantly, it could enable the government to be more radical in its fight to put the economy back on a sound footing than might have been the case had the Conservatives won an overall majority.
It is not that they might have been any less committed to slashing state spending if standing alone but rather that, if the Governor of the Bank of England was correctly quoted as suggesting that whoever won the election would face a generation in opposition, then a problem shared is a problem halved. In other words, the Conservatives – clearly the senior partner in the coalition by right of seats and popular votes – can do what it really must, while sharing the “blame” with the Liberal Democrats.
This is not, however, a one-way street. In return for fulfilling the vital function of helping to take the flak, a party that has been in opposition since its last coalition participation during the Second World War (and even then, it had no places in the War Cabinet) will benefit from being able to gain experience in power and demonstrate what it can do.
Whether or not we like the idea of proportional representation and the prospect of semi-permanent coalition government, a broadening of the political spectrum now seems inevitable. What effect it will have on the long term economic future has yet to be determined.
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