Writing for the Financial Times, Lib Dem shadow home secretary Chris Huhne exposes the Tories’ scaremongering that a hung parliament will be a disaster for the economy. Here’s an excerpt:

[The Tory strategy] is to scare the voters witless about the prospect of multi-party democracy and a real change in our corrupt political system. All manner of pestilence is threatened to befall the British people if they vote other than Tory. … Of the 14 countries that enjoy the top AAA rating for creditworthiness with all three rating agencies – Fitch, Moody’s, and Standard and Poor’s – 10 have coalitions or minority governments including Germany, Canada, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and the Netherlands. None of those 10 has ever had to call in the IMF. …

Anybody who tried to explain to a German that coalition government was bound to lead to a “national calamity” would find the conversation surreal, since the country with one of the strongest reputations for sound public finance has never had a formal single-party government since the dawn of the Federal Republic.

Chris continues:

… if single party government has been so effective in peacetime, why does Britain have the biggest budget deficit of any major European country, the worst recession since the 1930s and the shame of participating in an illegal invasion of Iraq?

You can read his article in full here.

Readers who liked this article may also like to see today’s Independent report: Tory claims that hung parliament would cause meltdown are dismissed.