
A senior Scottish Liberal Democrat has said his party is willing to look elsewhere if they cannot convince the Tories to adopt electoral reforms.Nicol Stephen, the former leader of the party in Scotland, said the Lib Dems were in a "strong position" to achieve change in the voting system.
The party's UK leader Nick Clegg and Conservative leader David Cameron are involved in power-sharing discussions.
A coalition deal between the pair would deliver a majority at Westminster.
Speaking on BBC Scotland's Politics Show, Mr Stephen said: "If the agreement does break down, then a number of Liberal Democrats have already said that they would like to see discussions with other parties, specifically with the Labour Party.
"Very interestingly, if you put the Labour votes and the Liberal Democrat votes together, you do get a situation where we would out-vote not only the Conservative Party but the Conservatives plus the Ulster Unionists.
"So that does put extra pressure on David Cameron."
Mr Cameron has said that crunch talks between the Tories and Liberal Democrats would inevitably involve compromise.
Both parties have described meetings so far as "constructive" and stressed the need to deliver a stable government as soon as possible.
The parties' negotiators are now hammering out the detail of what offers are on the table.
The possible outcomes include a full Tory/Lib Dem coalition, or a "confidence and supply" agreement, both of which would see Mr Cameron in number 10.
'Possible outcome'
Meanwhile, Gordon Brown is due to arrive back in London after spending Saturday night at his home in Fife.
In an e-mail to Labour party supporters, the Prime Minister thanked members for their support and insisted his resolve had not changed and would not change.
He added: "I pledged to do everything in my power to fight for the people of this country - to secure the recovery, to protect their livelihoods and to continue to fight for a future fair for all." Mr Brown has said his party would offer a referendum on electoral reform.
SNP leader Alex Salmond has said Scotland stood to gain the most from a Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition government.
Scotland's First Minister proposed a "rainbow alliance" of Labour, SNP and Plaid Cymru MPs banding together to command a parliamentary majority, combined with the traditional voting patterns of the Northern Irish parties.
He said: "The Liberal Democrats shouldn't be pushed into seeing the Conservative arrangement as the only possible outcome of these talks.
"It is quite clear that the Labour party lost the election, but it's also the case that the Conservatives didn't win the election."
The Conservatives won 306 seats in the UK election while Labour won 258 and the Liberal Democrats took 57.
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