GORDON BROWN has been rejected by the people of this country as their Prime Minister and it is, therefore, right he should stand down.

He has done so in the knowledge that there was no true possibility of him hanging on to power but, despite that, he should be given credit for acting with dignity yesterday.

The three main party leaders should all look back to last week’s General Election with a sense of regret. They all ultimately failed to earn the trust of the nation and that is a sorry state of affairs.

But, in his speech outside Number 10 yesterday, Mr Brown was big enough to accept that the election had been a judgement on him as Prime Minister and it was, therefore, necessary for him to stand aside.

We said on Saturday morning that the only credible way to form a stable government appeared to be a coalition between the Conservatives, as the party with the most seats, and the Lib Dems. That still appears to us to be the case.

It was out of the question for any progressive, anti-Tory alliance between Labour and the Lib Dems to have any chance of taking root while Mr Brown was Labour leader.

We remain far from convinced that a Lab-Lib pact, bolstered by nationalist MPs, is sustainable or in the best interests of the country at a time of economic crisis.

But Mr Brown’s decision to stand aside at least gives that option breathing space.

For all his shortcomings as Prime Minister, he served this country well for a decade as Chancellor and took the hardest decisions to shorten the recession when other world leaders dithered.