Cable will work with 'ruthless' Tories

Vince Cable has described his coalition colleagues in the Conservative Party as "ruthless, calculating and tribal" following a victory for the Tory-backed No campaign in the AV referendum.

The Business Secretary said he was not surprised by the tactics employed in the AV campaign, and vowed that despite the result, the coalition will continue to operate in a "businesslike" way.

He acknowledged these are "difficult" times for his party, having lost a large number of seats in local elections, on top of the referendum defeat but made clear that Liberal Democrats would not accept policies which go beyond last year's agreement with Tories - such as proposals for NHS reform.

Mr Cable added: "We have a coalition agreement which is a very good agreement and which is balanced and which we have to deliver and that is the text around which we should operate in future, while not losing sight of the central purpose of the coalition, which is to sort out this economic mess."

A lot of measures in the coalition agreement have "not yet been realised", such as reforms to the banking system, the removal of people earning less than £10,000 out of income tax and reform of party funding, said Mr Cable.

And he added: "The health service reforms went some way beyond what was in the coalition agreement and that is going to be a major issue as we go forward."