Minority Government
This is the worst possible outcome. The minority governments of Labour in 1923, Labour in 1974 and again from 1976 and the Conservatives in the terminal years of the Major government, were all weak governments which fell far short of public expectation and delivered ineffectual outcomes. In a crisis of the kind we now have in the public finances, strong government is needed, not haggling with tiny parties on every issue.
If no party has a good working majority sufficient to do tough and unpopular things, strong government can only be provided by a Coalition with a decent majority working to an agreed programme. We won two World Wars and survived the Depression this way.If there is not a good Tory majority, we need to do this again. If Cameron forms a minority government, it should be brought down at the Queen’s Speech.
If they fail to win a majority, the Tories will have failed in their mission, when everything at the start was in their favour and with huge margins in the polls. If they want to govern without winning they must do a deal with the Lib Dems or the minor parties (not easy the latter) or accept a Lab/LD Coalition and remain in opposition for their time to come again. Then not to screw up.