Britain's Liberal Democrats party will not form a coalition to prop up the government of Prime Minister Theresa May after she failed to win a parliamentary majority in an election, Liberal Democrat Tim Farron said on Friday.
"If Theresa May, or any other Conservative, approaches the Liberal Democrats and asks for our support to deliver their agenda, let me make our position clear: no deal is better than a bad deal," Farron said, echoing one of May's catchlines about the upcoming Brexit negotiations.
"There will be no deals, no coalitions and no confidence and supply arrangements," he said. "If the government puts a Queen’s Speech or a budget in front of us, we will judge it on whether or not we think it is good for the country – and if it isn’t then we will not support it."
The Liberal Democrats formed a governing coalition with the Conservatives after an inconclusive election in 2010. But Farron has previously ruled out a deal with May because of the parties' differences over Brexit.
The Liberal Democrats won 12 of the UK parliament's 650 seats in Thursday's election. Results for one constituency have not yet been counted.
The Scottish National Party will work to forge an alliance to keep Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservatives out of power after the inconclusive result to Britain's national election, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Friday.
"We will work with others, if it is at all possible, to keep the Tories out of government. We have always said that we would work in alliance with others to promote progressive policies to build a fairer country," Sturgeon said.
As Britain risked political deadlock after May's gamble on a snap election left her short of a majority in Britain's parliament, election losses by the Scottish National Party (SNP) undermined Sturgeon's bid for a second independence vote.
