He adds that the verdict "complicates things for a party that is trying to find an easy transition, a new identity and new alliances" and that it needs to explain to the electorate "how much the legacy of Berlusconi still casts a shadow on the present".
Shadow chancellor Ed Balls said the coalition had been left an economic legacy pointing towards recovery but that this had been jeopardised by the coalition cutting "too far too fast", with Britain paying in lost jobs and slower growth.