Tory-Lib Dem coalition fails to represent

These two candidates showed little or no respect for each other throughout the election campaign, and their policies were very different.

I do not buy the line that it is what the country chose, as the Lib Dems were no better off in this general election than in the last one (third place and a significant margin away from second).

If I were Nick Clegg I would be concerned about the impact this will have on his party north of the Border in the long term.

The Scottish people comprehensively rejected the Tories as usual, and any negative impact their power has in Scotland will not just reflect them, but also their new best friends.

This is a betrayal to any Scots who voted Lib Dem, and I doubt if they would make the same mistake again.

PAUL D'MELLO

Baldridgeburn

Dunfermline

I didn't vote Liberal Democrat or Conservative last week. But I have watched events over the past few days with a growing sense of positive fascination.

I've always felt the idea of coalition is attractive in principle – parties working together instead of constantly fighting – but I have also always been suspicious that it wouldn't work in practice. Not at Westminster.

But maybe I've been wrong all these years. At any rate. I feel quite glad that someone is trying it. And – it seems – doing so sincerely.

I can't say I feel great about a Tory in Number 10. But they did get more votes than anyone else and you can't get away from that fact. I've had my doubts about some Lib Dem policies, but I've never doubted that they are in general decent, well-meaning, earnest types and they have some very capable people.

It's not the government I voted for. But I think we should give these guys a fair wind. Let's see how it goes. It might just be time for a little bit of goodwill all round.

T JAMIESON

Murrayfield

Edinburgh

The carping and negative attitudes about Nick Clegg and the Lib Dems (Letters, 13 May) do not reflect the facts of the aggregate votes which resulted from voters' individual votes; even under some PR systems the seats won by two parties could still be under 50 per cent despite total votes of just over 50 per cent.

If the Labour Party had been serious about doing a deal, the last people they would have included as negotiators were the unelected Lords Mandelson and Adonis plus Alastair Campbell – two of them with a lifetime spent in spin.

The surprise is that Clegg did not insist on true representatives of the Labour Party. The whole episode looks more and more like yet another unwise decision taken by Gordon Brown himself.

If Labour had won outright or even with the Lib Dems, the real powers would have been Jack Dromey (Harriet Harman's husband and now an MP) and Charlie Whelan, with their trade unions – hardly the "progressive" alliance we hear so much about.

Journalists should define that word when using it; after all, the Tories used to be called "progressives" in local government (and maybe should have trademarked it!). The new government appears to be much more "inclined to original thinking leading to real social reform" (a fair definition), than the previous one.

And each of the UK nations, including England, now has a government reflecting its votes, so the West Lothian question is almost answered!

JOHN BIRKETT

Horseleys Park

St Andrews