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DERMOT MURNAGHAN: Well now, the Lib Dems have been more explicit than any other party in setting out their so-called red lines for possible coalition negotiations and this morning they’ve announced their final demand. They have said that public sector pay should be made a priority in any coalition and they want to offer police officers, nurses and teachers what they call light at the end of the tunnel.  Well the Lib Dem Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, joins me now from Aviemore and a very good morning to you Mr Alexander.  Now on these red lines, and they have been coming thick and fast from the Lib Dems, is it the case that you are so scarred as a party after the experience over tuition fees and breaking that promise, that you have got so many red lines now and they are unbreakable we understand, that you couldn’t do business with anyone?

DANNY ALEXANDER:  Well I think it’s important given that it’s clear that neither Labour nor the Tories are going to have an overall majority that we are explicit about what are the things that we would insist on.  They are actually set out right there on the front page of our election manifesto and we have got a 33,000 word manifesto but there are a few policies there that are top priorities for us that would be red lines in any coalition negotiations – balancing the books in a fair way, investing in education and in the National Health Service and today we’re setting out as part of balancing the books fairly, is about making sure that those who work hard for us all in public services see inflationary pay rises and then once the books are balanced they are able to see their pay increase again because there have been big sacrifices made by our public servants to help us balance the books and it’s right that as we can now see light at the end of the tunnel, that those people can be assured that they will share in the benefit of that.

DM: But at the moment the inflationary pay rise is smoke and mirrors, it’s zero percent so you are saying you get nothing.  

DANNY ALEXANDER:  Well public sector have seen, and it’s been necessary as part of what we have been doing in government to balance the books, have seen below inflation pay rises throughout the entirety of this parliament, many saw a pay freeze and then all have seen a pay increase by only 1% and  what we are saying is that their pay needs to improve beyond that over the next couple of years and then after that, that we can see above inflation pay rises again so that public sector workers, nurses and teachers, doctors, people who work in the prison service and in local government, can see a proper pay increase which I think frankly is only fair given the big sacrifices that have been made as we deal with the enormous economic problems that we inherited from the previous Labour government and seek to turn this country around.  

DM: So you, Nick Clegg and others in the party are keeping your options open in terms of who you deal with and how they treat those Lib Dem red lines but there are plenty within your party who are saying now after that experience in coalition that was satirised on television as a hostage situation for the Lib Dems, who say we shouldn’t touch the Conservatives with a barge pole ever again come what may.  What do you say to them?

DANNY ALEXANDER:  I say firstly  this is not keeping our options open, this is about respecting the democratically expressed will of the British people.  We’ve said, as we did in 2010, that we’d talk first to the party that had the strongest mandate from the British people, whichever party gets the most seats and does best in the election should be the one that has the first chance to form a government, that’s the democratically right thing to do but I think most Liberal Democrats who I talk to and most Liberal Democrats in the party, see that in this coalition we have delivered a vast amount of Liberal Democrat policy, we have made sure there has been some sanity, some decency, some common sense to government over the last five years, stopping the Tories going off in a more extreme direction and that actually, as people look to the future, what they want to see is a government that is stable, that is decent, that is doing the right thing for the country and you are only going to get that if the Liberal Democrats are holding the balance of power and I think most Liberal Democrats would like to see the party delivering again on its values, on its policies, on its red lines in government after next Thursday if the British people give us that opportunity.

DM: But you must admit, Mr Alexander, there are tensions in the party over the experience in coalition and your attitude in particular to the Conservatives.  I mean Mr Clegg has just been saying that one thing I will never, ever do on my watch is split my party.  That’s an admission isn’t it that there are these tensions within the Lib Dems?  

DANNY ALEXANDER:  Well Dermot you and others have been observing, claiming these tensions for the last five years but actually what you’ve seen from the Liberal Democrats over five years in coalition is an enormous amount of unity behind what we’ve been doing.  Efforts to uncover people who are hostile to what we’re doing at the moment have been extremely difficult.  Now look, in the end of course it’s our party members who have the final say because in order to start coalition negotiations we need authority from our MPs and various committees but crucially we, unlike any other party, have a special party conference which gives our members the final say as to whether they are willing to sign off on any proposed deal and that’s a very strong democratic lock for our party members, rightly so, we’re a democratic party.  You’ve seen it at our party conferences every year, we’re the only party that allows our members to shape our policies so I think if people don’t like what is done they are able to say no to it but I think that for Liberal Democrats again and again, this idea what we would allow the country to lurch to the right with the Tories and UKIP or lurch to the left with Labour and the SNP giving us one of the most left wing governments this country has ever had, I don’t think most Liberal Democrats would like to see the country head down either of those roads.

DM: But Mr Clegg is alert to the danger of splits and on that collective decision you say about endorsing any coalition agreement, just be specific here, what does that take?  Is it a straight majority, 51% or is it two-thirds or does it have to be unanimous because anything less than unanimous does risk a split doesn’t it?

DANNY ALEXANDER:  Well you need two-thirds of the MPs and then two-thirds of the delegates at a special conference to approve a coalition deal for the party to have the authority to go into it and that’s a fair democratic lock.  I remember last time around I led the negotiating team for the Liberal Democrats and we had to go to our parliamentary party and to our various committees to explain what was on the table and there was a couple of times when was there simply wasn’t acceptable and we had to push hard for more of our policies in order to be able to form a government.  In the end though, at the special conference there was near unanimity because we’d been through the process in the right way, we had delivered something which implemented 70% of the Liberal Democrat manifesto from 2010 which made sure that we balanced the books in a fair way, which made sure that we delivered income tax cuts for working people, which wouldn’t have happened without Liberal Democrats in the government and people have seen that again in their pay packet just last Thursday.

DM: Okay, I just want to get this last question in then, Mr Alexander, you mentioned about leading the negotiations last time round, even if you’re not an MP on Thursday are you going to lead them again if the Lib Dems are involved?

DANNY ALEXANDER:  Well Dermot, I fully expect to be re-elected here in my constituency in the Highlands because as a party we’ve done a good job.  I’ve delivered for the Highlands again and again over the years and I think more and more people are seeing the threat of the SNP sweeping the board in Scotland is not something that we want to see so I intend to be re-elected, that’s what I’m working for …

DM: Okay but what about heading up the negotiations?  

DANNY ALEXANDER:  … heading up the negotiation team if that’s the position I’ve been given although of course if there is a different outcome Nick Clegg will have to decide what to do but I intend to be re-elected so I don't think that choice will ever arise.  

DM: Okay, Danny Alexander, thank you very much indeed, Chief Secretary to the Treasury there in Inverness.