How to make a coalition government work

The Constitution Unit published the report ?Coalition Government in Britain: Lessons from Overseas? in 2002, which investigated how to make coalition government work and will shortly be updated. 'This need not be a step into the unknown,' continued Professor Hazell. ?In our report we looked at Denmark, Germany, Ireland and New Zealand, which all have useful experience of coalition government. Much of that now needs to be captured in the new Cabinet Manual, which will be all the more important as a guide to how the coalition arrangements work in day-to-day practice. 'One unusual feature in the new arrangements here is the number of ministerial seats offered to the Liberal Democrats. Normally these reflect closely the respective parties' numbers in Parliament. On that basis the Liberal Democrats would be entitled to 13 percent, which is three Cabinet posts and nine junior ministers.