You also make a good point, Ian.

Of course, the Scottish Parliament’s proportional representation electoral system does bend itself more towards coalition governments and was very much designed to do so.

The UK government’s ‘first past the post’ systems means, in England at least, it remains very much a two party system, whether we like it or not, and coalitions or pacts are much rarer.

The Tory-LibDem coalition was an interesting one, the parliamentary maths only really throw up that option for any chance of a stable government at the time, which the country needed, and from that point of view it worked well.

And, yes, the LibDems did get some of their policies introduced, some later amended or abolished by the next government. They also were forced into supporting the increase in students’ tuition fees, and that cost them dearly at the next general election, seeing their 57 seats drop to just 10, pushing them back into the wilderness.

I can’t see them rushing to form a coalition again, even if they are in the position of holding the balance of power and will probably settle with a ‘confidence and supply’ arrangement with a minority government, giving them far less say in the direction of travel.