Was the Coalition n effective?

Hear, hear. Think what the re-action would have been if they had refused to go into a colation. They were caught between a rock and a hard place.

the Lib Dems did what they had to do, and the coalition worked very well.So what did Libdem voters then do? They punished them for working with the Conservatives, it was ridiculous.Their first bit of power for donkeys years now vanished.

I resigned from the Lib Dems in disgust at the coalition. Was I right? Maybe not, but there's no point in chewing over past decisions. I still vote for them, as the alternatives do not appeal to me. I agree, Nick's article in the Independent was an eye-opener, but I wish we had known more about the differences within the coalition at the time of the General Election.

I hope that more of the people who once supported the LibDems but voted for other parties in 2015 will now realise how much they did for the country and how much more they could have done given a fair chance.

We are now seeing the damage that is being done by an unrestrained Tory government and an incompetent and divisive SNP government in Scotland. The Labour party is not providing effective opposition in Westminster or Holyrood and is unlikely to be elected under Jeremy Corbyn.

The Liberal Democrats stand for decency, fairness and co-operation. It will be an uphill struggle for the party to even get back to the position it was in before going into the coalition. We have an unfair electoral system and huge disparities in party funding. You have to be an optimist to see a LibDem recovery coming soon, but it will come and it cannot come soon enough for me.

I am not sure Luckygirl that it is too late, I never thought I would support the LD's but I am now coming round.

I have always thought that the Lib Dems helped to curb some of the excesses - a pity that went unappreciated. Too late now.

Pity he hadn't stayed on as leader of his party, they need him now

Although he played his cards very badly at the start of the coalition (the decision on university fees for example) I think Clegg did a lot better than people reckoned.

I think the introduction of full blooded conservatism since the last election has shown just how much the Liberals did to keep our government acceptable.