DORSET’S lone Liberal Democrat MP will today be at the London meeting which could decide who becomes the next Prime Minister.

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg is holding the conference of Lib Dem MPs following overtures from both David Cameron and Gordon Brown.

Annette Brooke, who held her seat against a Tory challenge in Mid-Dorset and North Poole, said the meeting had been booked before the exit polls that pointed to a hung parliament.

“We are in the most serious economic situation and Liberal Democrats understand this and know that difficult decisions have to be made,” she said.

She said she personally did not see that there necessarily had to be a formal coalition but “there will have to be co-operation”.

The Tory and Lib Dem leaders were due to speak on the phone last night after Mr Cameron outlined a range of policies where he said they could agree, including civil liberties and a “pupil premium” for schools.

He offered Lib Dems an all-party review of the electoral reform, rather than the third party’s cherished dream of proportional representation at general elections.

Mrs Brooke said her party’s failure to break through at the polls was down to negative publicity about a possible coalition and a fear of Gordon Brown being let back in. “Many people asked if a vote for the Lib Dems would mean that,” she said.

“I do believe people wanted change but because of the way the system works it was harder to achieve it,” she said.

Labour’s Jim Knight, who lost his South Dorset seat to the Conservatives, yesterday joined those who said the government should seek to form a “progressive alliance” with the Lib Dems, with a commitment to electoral reform.

Richard Drax, the seat’s new Tory MP, said the discussions about a deal with the Lib Dems were “way above my pay grade”.

“Clearly the most important thing is we’ve got to have a government and soon. We’ve got this big economic mess to sort out and we can’t sit around doing nothing,” he said.

He said promising the Lib Dems proportional representation would be “a step too far”.

“I do not believe this country would benefit from such a voting system because of the nature and history of this country. We are not German,” he said.“If we do it, we’ll regret it forever more,” he said.