Labour chiefs talk up electoral reform deal in bid to keep power

Labour's high command began a ­rearguard action to cling to power by means of an electoral reform deal with the Liberal Democrats as the first results of the 2010 election pointed to a hung parliament. Lord Mandelson, the business ­secretary, led the counter-attack before midnight when he said that on the basis of early exit polls, the Tory surge had fallen short of a mandate to govern and, that in the economic crisis, what the ­country needed was "strong and ­stable government", not a fragile minority regime. The apparent success of the Labour machine in fending off third place in votes if not seats dispelled immediate talk of a rush to organise rival campaigns to ­succeed Gordon Brown. Ed Balls, Jon Cruddas and David ­Miliband, the three men who were expected to stand if Brown were to go, were all acutely aware that ­premature moves could be fatal to their chances, especially if Brown battles to cling to No 10 in the days ahead. Despite sharp swings to the Tories in Sunderland's three seats that declared earliest, Harriet Harman, Labour's deputy leader, Alan Johnson, the home ­secretary, and Mandelson embarked on what appeared to be a ­pre-planned strategy in TV and radio studios. On BBC TV Mandelson said: "It sounds like our votes held up and the air has gone out of the Liberal Democrat tyre ‑ but let's see. "We'll have to look at the will of the people, we'll have to look at the percentage of the vote, obviously, we'll have to look at how the polls turn out. "That [exit] poll says to me that if you [Labour] had a formal coalition with the Liberal Democrats you would outnumber the Conservatives." Mandelson's message for a "strong and stable" government – apparently the first overtures to a Lib-Lab coalition – were ­echoed across the cabinet. David Miliband told the BBC's Jeremy ­Paxman: "If no party has an absolute majority in the House of Commons, then no party has a moral right to a monopoly of power. "Our system is clear. If you have 325 seats then you do have the right to form a ­government. If you do not, then the parties have to talk to each other." On Sky News, Harman called for "humility" among politicians and the media, suggesting it was "arrogant" on the part of David Cameron "to declare a victory in advance". She said: "It does not appear from the exit poll to be a massive endorsement of the Conservative party. It is too early to say." But she too interpreted the result as indicating that many voters thought there needed to be a change in the voting ­system. That view was echoed by ­Johnson, a vocal supporter of PR reform, who said he would have no difficulty in doing a deal with the Liberal Democrats if the result warranted it. "I have no problem at all. Indeed, if the will of the people is that no party has an overall majority that is where grown up mature politicians have to be," said ­Johnson. "I can't see the Lib Dems ­forming a deal with the Conservatives. I certainly can't see us forming a deal with the Conservatives. "Given that on the central issue of how we secure the recovery we have so much in common and given that on electoral reform we have so much in common and I'd be delighted to put before the British people an AV-Plus deal – I think we have a lot in common and could come together on this." AV-Plus is a variant on the alternative voted (AV) system which Brown offered for a referendum as a pre-election ­sweetener to impress the Lib Dems. In addition to giving every voter two votes so that the winner must get more than 50% to win, AV-Plus would elect some MPs on an additional member list to rebalance the overall result more fairly for minor parties. Supporters of Miliband, Cruddas and Balls were mulling their options last night. But the tightness of the election result prompted a show of Labour unity with ­figures across the party adopting a wait-and-see strategy. While the Miliband and Balls teams were wary of being seen to "dance ­prematurely on Brown's grave", they were both keen to be the first to act in the event that Brown was unable to hold on to power this morning.