10 things to remember from five years of the Con-Lib coalition

But what will we remember the Parliament for? Here are 10 things that might stick in the mind:

1. Coalition

Britain has had coalitions before - notably during the two World Wars and the National Governments of the 1930s.

But the Conservative-Liberal Democrat partnership was the first coalition of the post-war era and took Westminster by surprise.

Watching David Cameron and Nick Clegg laughing and joking together in the Downing Street Rose Garden, many observers doubted whether the arrangement could last the full five years.

But if current opinion polls are to be trusted, the 2010 Parliament may have set the format for years to come.

2. Referendums

Prime Minister David Cameron and the then Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond struck a deal setting out terms for a referendum on Scottish independence in October 2012.

Support for the SNP surged over the course of the campaign but Scotland voted against independence by 55% to 45% on September 18 last year.

Voters across the UK went to the polls in May 2011 to cast their vote in a referendum on changing the first-past-the-post voting system.

The reform bid was overwhelmingly defeated - a major blow to the Lib Dems, who had pushed for the vote as part of the coalition deal. Mr Cameron has also announced plans to stage an in/out referendum on Britain's membership of Europe.

3. Gay marriage

In July 2013 the The Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill became law after a stormy passage through Parliament that saw Mr Cameron face down most of his own MPs to secure the historic reform to equality laws.

4. The Arab Spring

In March 2011 Mr Cameron authorised the deployment of British military force as part of an international operation to defend Libyan citizens against Muammar Gaddafi's brutal repression of an uprising - part of a wider regional movement that becomes known as the Arab Spring.

The Prime Minister and then French President Nicolas Sarkozy later flew into Benghazi and pledged support for the interim authorities.

But Mr Cameron's attempts in September 2013 to intervene in Syria were halted when he became the first British Prime Minister in at least 150 years to be defeated in the Commons over military action.

5. The rise of Ukip

Support for Nigel Farage's eurosceptics surged and saw the party enjoy significant victories at the ballot box. Ukip topped the poll in the European Parliament elections last May, scooping 27.49% and gaining 11 MEPs, taking its total to 24.

Clacton's Conservative MP Douglas Carswell later defected to Ukip and won back his seat after triggering a by-election. He was followed by Mark Reckless, who won back his Rochester and Strood seat.

6. Inquiries

The long-awaited Saville Inquiry into Bloody Sunday reported back in June 2010 and found that the 14 civilians shot dead were killed as a result of ''unjustifiable firing'' by British soldiers.

Mr Cameron called the findings were "shocking" and said he was "deeply sorry". The following year the Prime Minister announced a major public inquiry into media ethics following the phone hacking scandal.

It found that politicians of all parties had developed "too close a relationship with the press in a way which has not been in the public interest" and called for an independent regulatory body to be set up.

7. Nick Clegg's apology

The Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg sought to draw a line over his u-turn on tuition fees by saying sorry in a two-and-a-half-minute video apology. But the Lib Dem leader found himself an inadvertent pop sensation after the broadcast was used to create the catchy ditty I'm Sorry (The Autotune Remix), which went viral.

8. Unfortunate photographs

Both Mr Cameron and Ed Miliband have found themselves under close scrutiny thanks to unflattering photographs over the course of the parliament.

The Labour leader was mocked when he was caught awkwardly eating a bacon sandwich. More recently, a picture of him in his kitchen attracted controversy when it emerged it was his second, smaller facility.

The Prime Minister was captured in a less than flattering pose wrapped in a towel attempting to get changed on a Cornish beach. Other holiday snaps have seen his choice of footwear ridiculed.

9. Austerity

Within weeks of the 2010 election Chancellor George Osborne held an emergency budget and set the tone for the five-year parliament by immediately outlining £6 billion of cuts.

While the economy is recovering, plans to eliminate the deficit by the end of the parliament have not been met and significant spending cuts are set to continue into the next parliament.

10. Plebgate

A row between Chief Whip Andrew Mitchell and police about whether he could cycle through the Downing Street gates saw the Conservative lose his job and officers end up in court.

Mr Mitchell vehemently denied using the word ''pleb'' as reported by the Sun, but lost a high-profile action against its publishers News Group Newspapers after the judge declared he had reached the ''firm conclusion'' that the senior Tory used the ''politically-toxic'' word in September 2012.