A promising start, but time will test all the good intentions

For those who like their politicians to co-operate, not fight, it was a welcome sight.

However, although personal chemistry between Nick Clegg and David Cameron is important, what matters more is the policies their two parties pursue in a government inheriting Labour's grim economic legacy.

The first firm details of this emerged yesterday with the publication of the coalition agreement it took the two parties up until Tuesday to agree. The document has much to offer the UK as a whole and Scotland.

For a nation facing necessary cuts in public spending, the commitment to a significantly accelerated reduction in the country's structural deficit is welcome as is the pledge that most of the pain will not be absorbed by tax rises, but by taking a hatchet to Whitehall budgets. While it was disappointing that the Tories' promise of a 6 billion cut this year has been hedged by the caveat of only being implemented if the Treasury and Bank of England think it feasible, at least BoE governor Mervyn King has already expressed early approval.

It is a universal truth that while voters say they believe in the necessity of public spending reductions, when those cuts affect them those fine sentiments tend to be tested. For that reason the new government's promise of a swift spending review is a positive step. Once it is completed, we expect Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg to follow their promise of more open government by publishing it in full and allowing a nationwide debate on where the axe should fall.

On the tax side of the equation, there is merit in the plans to increase the threshold on income tax with the Lib Dem target of 10,000 as a longer-term aim. The reduction in plans for national insurance increases, which we argued for at the election, will be welcomed by businesses across the land.

Within the document there are a number of what can be called get-out clauses for the Lib Dems. The Trident replacement will be tested against value for money and Mr Clegg's MPs will not have to vote for a new system if proposed. Lib Dems MPs will not have to vote for any mooted increase in university tuition fees.

Beyond these tricky issues there is a heartening theme of preserving individual freedom, with the ID card scheme, the National Register and the next generation of biometric passports all being scrapped.

A further welcome step, though one in which we have a vested interest, came with the promise that libel laws, which have been used to restrict the media's hard-earned right to report without fear or favour, will be reformed to protect freedom of speech. A strong Freedom of Information Act is also to be applauded.

For Scotland, the two parties are promising to go ahead with the Calman proposals to give greater fiscal autonomy to Holyrood – a move this newspaper has long advocated. But judgment on plans to make MSPs more accountable for the money they spend should be suspended until the precise taxation mechanism for the Scottish Parliament is revealed.

Finally, there is a promise of a commission to look at the most difficult constitutional conundrum of all, the West Lothian Question: Scots MPs voting in the House of Commons on issues affecting only England.

There are several logical answers to the famous question – one is to have a fully federal UK, including splitting up England, which the Lib Dems favour but for which there is little demand south of the Border and which the Tories have opposed. Another is to ban Scottish MPs from voting on purely English matters – but that runs into problems, as much legislation with apparently no impact on Scotland has implications for Scottish spending through the Barnett formula. We wish the new administration well, and if they can find a workable answer to the question they can really lay claim to being an innovative administration.

The first day of the UK's first post-war coalition has gone well and Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg have made a good start to what they promise will last a full five years – the proposed time for fixed-term parliament, itself another welcome reform.

It remains to be seen if they can last five years without deal-breaking party political wrangling, if they can carry their MPs with them, and if they have the steel to put radical plans into action. We hope they can.