What happens when parties negotiate behind the scenes?

Following the inconclusive election result, we are entering a phase of behind the scenes negotiations between the parties.

There has been much discussion about historical precedents and how parties negotiate in times like these.

For clues, it is instructive to look at what happened in the 1970s when Labour and the Liberals negotiated a pact – albeit in very different circumstances.

The negotiations and lessons learned are covered in detail in Chapter 2 our report, Making Minority Government Work: Hung parliaments and the challenges for Westminster and Whitehall (PDF, 3.3MB)