Discipline relaxed to keep coalition on track

DETAILS revealed of how the coalition will operate show the normal requirements of party discipline and Cabinet collective responsibility have been relaxed.

The Liberal Democrats will, for instance, be able to "continue to make the case for alternatives" in the renewal of UK's Trident nuclear deterrent. They will also be given special permission to abstain on measures they do not support, including the married tax allowance and higher education funding

A Lib Dem spokesman will be allowed to speak in opposition to the construction of new nuclear power stations, which Conservatives support but the party's MPs will be required to abstain rather than join other parties in voting the policy down.

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But Ministers from both parties will be bound by collective responsibility when it comes to key issues such as the economy, tax, defence, immigration, foreign policy and Europe.

A final accord reached during five days of negotiations following the General Election showed how the Lib Dems accepted Tory plans to cut 6bn from state spending this year but it confirmed the Conservatives have agreed to adopt the Lib Dem pledge to raise income tax thresholds to 10,000.

The Lib Dems will sit on the Government benches. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg will no longer ask questions as the leader of the third party and will stand in for Prime Minister David Cameron when he is absent.

But the two parties will remain opponents when it comes to elections. Yesterday the Liberal Democrat candidate in the still-to-be-contested seat of Thirsk and Malton said he was looking forward to a "full-on fight".

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Mr Clegg chose which MPs entered the Cabinet but Mr Cameron selected their roles. It is believed only Mr Clegg can sack a Lib Dem Minister.

Constitutional expert Lord Norton, of Hull University, said the last similar coalition precedent came from 1918-22 but this was unlikely to be a guide for modern-day politics since in the past 40 years backbench MPs had become more independent.

"This is a new situation and we have very little to go on in the context of a particular situation," he said. "I think the English concept of 'muddling through' will be very much applied."