The UK Coalition Agreement of 2010: Who Won?

The UK general election of 2010 resulted in Britain’s first peacetime coalition government since the 1930s. The coalition parties, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, agreed a comprehensive policy deal in a coalition agreement. This paper undertakes a content analysis of that agreement to determine which party gained (or lost) most. ‘Gained’ and ‘lost’ here both have very specific meanings since they are based on comparisons of party positions as set out in their respective manifestos with the position of the new government set out in the agreement. In global terms we find that the agreement is nearer to the Liberal Democrats’ left–right position than the Conservatives’. Nevertheless, a more detailed analysis of policy areas identifies several where the Conservatives gained more. Overall, both parties secured considerable gains on their own priority policies.