Lib Dem MP reveals 80% of new government policies are from Lib Dem manifesto

The remarkable thing overnight and this morning is the extent to which the Tories have given way to the Lib Dems on key policies.

Both sides have been able to drop their more bonkers ideas (Inheritance Tax/illegal immigrant amnesty) while moving on to the “liberal conservative” ground that both David Cameron and Nick Clegg favour.

Full details of the deal will come out this morning, with Prime Minister Cameron and Deputy Prime Minister Clegg (better get used to that) giving a press conference at 2.15pm

In the meantime, Andrew George - the staunchly independent Lib Dem MP for St Ives has put out a statement – admitting he favoured a deal with Labour but was satisfied the Tory deal is right for the country.

He also reveals 80 per cent of the new government’s policies are from the Lib Dem manifesto not the Tories’.

We’ll find out in the next few hours.

Andrew George's statement:

“The electorate had given MPs a clear mandate. One which required them to work together. There was no overall winner of the General Election.

“Liberal Democrats have always argued for consensus politics. In any case, it is the inevitable consequence of electoral reform. So this is consensus politics in practice.

“The last thing the country needs right now is unstable Government followed by another General Election in the autumn. I believe that the agreement reached is not only a good one for the Liberal Democrats – as the statement to be released later this morning will show – 80% of the policy commitments of the new Government are items from the Liberal Democrat rather than Conservative manifesto.

“Personally, I had hoped for an alignment of the centre left. However, the Labour Party were very clearly not prepared to do any kind of deal. They were not prepared to compromise. They wanted to go into opposition.

“I am aware that whichever way these negotiations went many local electors would be unhappy. I am keen to speak to as many people as possible about the challenges we faced, the conundrums we had to overcome in negotiation and the justification of having to come to a deal which, above all, put the national interest first.

“I will be holding public meetings in the coming months and am keen to hear from all who have an opinion on the matter. My Parliamentary colleagues and I will be releasing a joint statement later in the day setting out our ambitions for Cornwall in the new Government.”