The minister told MPs that producing a Budget within a coalition was different to producing one as a single-party government.

BBC: Labour calls for inquiry into Budget leaks

They are attracted to the city-state's low taxes, virtually crime-free streets, pro-business policies and predictable government, with one political party in power since it gained independence in 1965.

WSJ: Wealth Over the Edge | WSJ.Money Spring 2013

Lord Ashdown, who is overseeing the 2015 general election campaign, told BBC One's Andrew Marr Show that the party - in a coalition government with the Conservatives since 2010 - had been "courageous in the national interest".

BBC: Nick Clegg urges Lib Dems to 'keep winning'

One pillar, the Centre Party, has been supporting the Social Democrats and is not keen on a Moderate-led government.

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Our correspondent said he had fallen victim to the persistence of the Labour Party - "who portrayed him as all that was worst about the government, symbolising one rule for those at the top and one for everyone else" - and the Police Federation who were fighting the government over cuts and reform.

BBC: Andrew Mitchell resigns over police comments row

So in the mid-term elections, voters decided to make another change, this time creating potential government gridlock, putting one party in control of the House, and leaving the other in control of the Senate.

FORBES: Political Gridlock Can Prevent A Quick Solution To The Next Big Crisis

Fisheries Minister Mahinda Rajapakse, a leader of the Freedom Party, wrote an open letter to the president in which he noted that the government could hardly be proud of scoring about a one-percentage-point advantage over the main opposition party after four-and-a-half years in office.

CNN: MIXED TIDINGS IN COLOMBO

And with both the Conservatives and the British press becoming more sceptical in the 90s, one of the most pro-EU party leaders - Tony Blair - felt he had to offer a referendum if a Labour government were to decide it was in Britain's economic interests to join the euro.

BBC: EU referendum: PM's problem solved or delayed?