Labour/Lib Dem lunch – is a 2015 coalition on the cards?

It’s reported today that there have been talks between Labour and Liberal Democrat camps over their supposed similarities.. Although taking place in the run up to the general election, this meeting by no means that a potential coalition deal is on the cards.

Newsnight reported that in April this year Labour peer Lord Adonis, and Lord Wood (a member of the Shadow Cabinet and arguably Miliband’s closest advisor) met with Clegg’s chief of staff, Jonny Oates and Lib Deb donor Neil Sherlock. It’s said that the four got together to mull over “mutual concern over Europe”.

This might set off alarm bells for many in the Labour Party who are keen to maintain distance from the Lib Dems and focus on winning a majority in 2015, instead of exploring the possibility of a coalition if there’s another hung parliament. In particular, the lunch might peak concern because as, you might remember, Lord Adonis was one of the people who spearheaded the Labour drive to form a Labour-Lib Dem coalition in the wake of the last general election results.

But before you get too worried, there’s apparently little truth in the rumours that say this implies a future coalition deal is on the table. One of the men who went to the lunch told Newsnight that it was nothing more than an “informal catch up between friends who have known each other for years”.

It’s also worth remembering that in February Miliband said that Labour were concentrating on winning a majority, not on making deals with Clegg.

Regardless of any wining and dining that might go on between Labour and Lib Dem allies, for the moment, the Labour line is clear: the next year is going to be about showing the electorate that a majority Labour government would have the best solutions to the country’s problems.