Nick Clegg went from Hero to Zero in five years.

 The extraordinary demise of the liberal Democrats in Wales , is a sober lesson  in how careful smaller parties must be in joining a coalition.

It@s hard to remember that it is just over 10 years that the first British leaders' debate  when LibDem leader surpassed expectations.


 Clegg asserted himself as the star of the show, anointed as such by a whopping 51% of those surveyed by an instant Sun/YouGov poll.

Clegg's support rose sharply after the debate, with some polls even putting him ahead of his opponents.

However the phase did not last long and the Liberal Democrats lost 5 seats .

 Clegg's Liberal Democrats found themselves with 57 seats in the House of Commons. The Conservative Party, which failed to receive a majority, formed a coalition with the Liberal Democrats, and Clegg was appointed by David Cameron to serve as his Deputy Prime Minister. In this capacity, he became the first leader of the Liberal Democrats to answer for the Prime Minister's Questions, and used his influence in the position to pass the Fixed-term Parliaments Act.^[9] Controversy arose during this time surrounding the Liberal Democrats' decision to abandon their pledge to oppose increases in tuition fees, which had previously been a key issue that won the party support from students.^[10]

During the party's time in coalition, the Liberal Democrats saw a significant drop in support, and the 2015 general election losing 49 seats and  left the party with just 8 seats, and an incredible  15215 drop in their overall vote.which resulted in Clegg's ousting as Deputy Prime Minister and his resignation as party leader. In 2016,

In the 2010 election in Wales the Liberal Democrats saw some big swings in Labour seats , which would have been major targets in 2015 if the writing was not already on the wall of thier demise.

General election 2010: Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney^[14][15][16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Dai Havard	14,007	43.7	-16.8
	Liberal Democrats	Amy Kitcher	9,951	31.0	+17.0
	Conservative	Maria Hill	2,412	7.5	-1.4
	Independent	Clive Tovey	1,845	5.8	N/A
	Plaid Cymru	Glyndwr Jones	1,621	5.1	-4.8
	BNP	Richard Barnes	1,173	3.7	N/A
	UKIP	Adam Brown	872	2.7	+0.4
	Socialist Labour	Alan Cowdell	195	0.6	-0.3
Rejected ballots			80
Majority			4,056	12.7	-33.8
Turnout			32,076	58.6	+3.2
Registered electors			54,715
	Labour hold		Swing	-16.9

Of the 80 rejected ballots:

• 22 were either unmarked or it was uncertain who the vote was for.^[16]
• 57 voted for more than one candidate.^[16]
• 1 had writing or mark by which the voter could be identified.^[16]

General election 2015: Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney^[17][18][19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Gerald Jones[20]	17,619	53.9	+10.2
	UKIP	David Rowlands[21]	6,106	18.7	+16.0
	Conservative	Bill Rees	3,292	10.1	+2.6
	Plaid Cymru	Rhayna Mann	3,099	9.5	+4.4
	Liberal Democrats	Bob Griffin[22]	1,351	4.1	-26.9
	Green	Elspeth Parris[23]	603	1.8	N/A
	Independent	Eddy Blanche	459	1.4	N/A
	Communist	Robert Griffiths	186	0.6	N/A
Rejected ballots			95
Majority			11,513	35.2	+22.5
Turnout			32,715	53.0	-5.6
Registered electors			61,716
	Labour hold		Swing	-2.8

2010 general election: Pontypridd^[40][41]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Owen Smith	14,220	38.8	−15.4
	Liberal Democrats	Mike Powell	11,435	31.2	+11.2
	Conservative	Lee Gonzalez	5,932	16.2	+4.6
	Plaid Cymru	Ioan Bellin	2,673	7.3	−3.7
	UKIP	David Bevan	1,229	3.4	+0.8
	Socialist Labour	Simon Parsons	456	1.2	N/A
	Christian	Donald Watson	365	1.0	N/A
	Green	John Matthews	361	1.0	N/A
Majority			2,785	7.6	−25.7
Turnout			36,671	63.0	−0.2
Registered electors			58,205
	Labour hold		Swing	−13.3

2015 general election: Pontypridd^[42][43][44]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Owen Smith	15,554	41.1	+2.3
	Conservative	Ann-Marie Mason	6,569	17.3	+1.1
	UKIP	Andrew Tomkinson	5,085	13.4	+10.0
	Liberal Democrats	Mike Powell	4,904	12.9	−18.3
	Plaid Cymru	Osian Lewis	4,348	11.5	+4.2
	Green	Katy Clay	992	2.6	+1.6
	Socialist Labour	Damien Biggs	332	0.9	−0.3
	TUSC	Esther Pearson	98	0.3	N/A
Rejected ballots			96
Majority			8,985	23.7	+16.1
Turnout			37,882	64.3	+1.3
Registered electors			58,940
	Labour hold		Swing	−0.1

General election 2010: Swansea West^[21][22][23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour Co-op	Geraint Davies	12,335	34.7	-7.1
	Liberal Democrats	Peter May	11,831	33.2	+4.3
	Conservative	René Kinzett[24]	7,407	20.8	+4.8
	Plaid Cymru	Harri Roberts	1,437	4.0	-2.5
	BNP	Alan Bateman	910	2.6	N/A
	UKIP	Timothy Jenkins	716	2.0	+0.2
	Green	Keith Ross	404	1.1	-1.1
	Independent	Ian McCloy	374	1.1	N/A
	TUSC	Rob Williams	179	0.5	N/A
Majority			504	1.5	-11.4
Turnout			35,593	58.0	+0.9
Registered electors			61,334
	Labour Co-op hold		Swing	-5.7

General election 2015: Swansea West^[25][26][27]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour Co-op	Geraint Davies 1	14,967	42.6	+7.9
	Conservative	Emma Lane	7,931	22.6	+1.8
	UKIP	Martyn Ford	4,744	13.5	+11.5
	Liberal Democrats	Chris Holley	3,178	9.0	-24.2
	Plaid Cymru	Harri Roberts	2,266	6.4	+2.4
	Green	Ashley Wakeling	1,784	5.1	+4.0
	TUSC	Ronnie Job	159	0.5	±0.0
	Independent	Maxwell Rosser	78	0.2	N/A
	Socialist (GB)	Brian Johnson [28]	49	0.1	N/A
Rejected ballots			116
Majority			7,036	20.0	+18.5
Turnout			35,156	59.8	+1.8
Registered electors			58,776
	Labour Co-op hold		Swing	+3.1

ections in the 2010s[edit]

General election 2010: Newport East^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Jessica Morden	12,744	37.0	-8.2
	Liberal Democrats	Ed Townsend	11,094	32.2	+8.5
	Conservative	Dawn Parry	7,918	23.0	-0.4
	BNP	Keith Jones	1,168	3.4	N/A
	Plaid Cymru	Fiona Cross	724	2.1	-1.7
	UKIP	David Rowlands	677	2.0	-1.0
	Socialist Labour	Elizabeth Screen	123	0.4	-0.4
Majority			1,650	4.8	-16.7
Turnout			34,448	63.6	+5.7
Registered electors			54,437
	Labour hold		Swing	-8.3

General election 2015: Newport East^[12][13][14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Jessica Morden	14,290	40.7	+3.7
	Conservative	Natasha Asghar	9,585	27.3	+4.3
	UKIP	David Stock	6,466	18.4	+16.4
	Liberal Democrats	Paul Halliday	2,251	6.4	-25.8
	Plaid Cymru	Tony Salkeld[15]	1,231	3.5	+1.4
	Green	David Mclean[16]	887	2.5	N/A
	Socialist Labour	Shangara Singh Bhatoe	398	1.1	+0.8
Majority			4,705	13.4	+8.6
Turnout			35,108	62.7	-0.9
Registered electors			56,015
	Labour hold		Swing	-0.3

Who knows what the result in 2015 , would have been in these constituencies if the Tories or Labour had  won a majority ten years earlier?

There are academics who can explain why it is junior coalition partners who seem to be punished at the next General Election. It could be that they often rely on a protest vote and when in goverment lose it.

Prehaps the lesson for any party in the UK thinking of joining a coalition is to insist on dumping  the firsdt Past the Post system for a form of proportional representation

The United Kingdom Alternative Vote referendum, also known as the UK-wide referendum on the Parliamentary voting system was held on Thursday 5 May 2011 (the same date as local elections in many areas) in the United Kingdom (UK) to choose the method of electing MPs at subsequent general elections. It occurred as a provision of the Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition agreement drawn up in 2010 (after a general election that had resulted in the first hung parliament since February 1974) and also indirectly in the aftermath of the 2009 expenses scandal. It operated under the provisions of the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011 and was the first national national referen

Choice	Votes	%
No	13,013,123	67.90
Yes	6,152,607	32.10
Valid votes	19,165,730	99.41
Invalid or blank votes	113,292	0.59
Total votes	19,279,022	100.00
Registered voters and turnout	45,684,501	42.20
Source: Electoral Commission

The Lib Dem however were suckered into accepting AV as the choice instead of STV and failed to realise how the major parties could muster opposition in the media.

However  the question remains that unless you can guarantees weeping changes to the  UK constitution. PR, Eleted Second Chamber and devolved powers it may be unwise to join either Labour or the Tories in power.