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THE fragile alliance between Colin Barnett and Brendon Grylls was at breaking point last night after it emerged the Liberals had put a preference deal to One Nation which potentially delivered Pauline Hanson the balance of power in the WA Parliament.

Details of the controversial deal were confirmed by senior Liberals yesterday, with Nationals claiming privately they had been double crossed.

Under the plan, the Liberals would preference One Nation above the Nationals in the Upper House country regions, and in return, they are demanding One Nation would preference the Liberals above Labor in all Lower House seats they were contesting.

The Liberals will preference the Nationals first in every Lower House seat they are running, but have promised One Nation they will not be placed last on their ballot papers.

A Liberal source said the party had learnt a lesson from the 2001 election, when then Liberal leader Richard Courts administration put One Nation last on its ballot papers.

Pauline Hanson retaliated in that election by preferencing against Liberal incumbents a move which cost the Liberals government. Nationals leader Brendon Grylls yesterday refused to comment.

But National sources told The Sunday Times yesterday that some MPs were so incensed by the Liberals preference deal that they believed the alliance should be broken.

Nationals sources said the preference deal could result in them losing one or two of their current five seats in the Legislative Council, potentially delivering Pauline Hanson the balance of power in the six-region Upper House.

But Liberals were unsympathetic to the plight of their Government partners.

Liberals remembered with clarity how Mr Grylls demanded that $1 billion-a-year be spent in the bush as part of his demands to form an alliance with the Liberals in 2008.

And they were still fuming that Mr Grylls had at one stage also sought to form Government with Labor in 2008 something seasoned Liberals have never forgiven him for.

Liberals also pointed out that in the 2008 election the Nationals in all country Upper House regions had preferenced the Christian Democrats, Family First and One Nation ahead of the Liberals and that in 2013 both the Nationals and Liberals preferenced the Christian Democrats, Family First and Shooters and Fishers ahead of each other.

Liberals told The Sunday Times the preference deal was designed to stem the bleeding in Lower House seats, which would determine whether Mr Barnett retained government.

Current polling shows the Liberals could lose 14 Lower House seats on March 11 enough to hand Labor leader Mark McGowan victory.

This is a ballsy move by the Liberal Party after four years of being held captive by the WA Nationals, a senior Liberal source said.

This is an important first step in ensuring the Nationals are no longer relevant at a State or Federal level.

And in another slap in the face for the Nationals, a senior Liberal source said one idea which could be seriously looked at was commissioning Liberal operatives to hand out how-to-vote-cards to voters on behalf of One Nation.

You have to have the manpower to distribute how to vote cards on election days and during pre-polls, a source said.

If this is to be a winning strategy we will have to man up and get people on polling booths and in the pre-poll, which is during the two weeks running into the election.

If the Liberal Party gets really desperate, it will ask its polling booth people to hand out One Nation how-to-vote cards.

Preferences are expected to play a major role in this knife-edge election.

As revealed by The Sunday Times last month, Ms Hanson had been courted by senior Liberals for months, with WA Liberal senator Michaelia Cash and her husband even taking Ms Hanson and her chief-of-staff to dinner when she arrived in Perth in December, later driving her to the airport.

While Labor was adamant it would not do a preference deal with Ms Hanson, Liberal State director Andrew Cox and State president Norman Moore had met with her on several occasions to hatch a deal.

So important are preferences this election, that Preference Whisperer Glen Druery flew to Perth this week to speak to a swarm of independents and micro parties who are keen for success.

Mr Druery yesterday warned a Liberal move to preference One Nation might actually backfire by alienating their voters.

Polling that I have seen suggests that 20-30 per cent of Liberal (voters) will desert the party if they deal with One Nation, Mr Druery said.

A desperate and wounded animal is often a dangerous one and is often dangerous to itself.

I think any preference deal that the Liberals, or any of the major parties do with One Nation, will be very dangerous for the party which perpetrates the deal.

Mr Barnett, who in February warned voters against voting One Nation, yesterday declined to comment.

But an unrepentant Andrew Cox told The Sunday Times the Liberal Party will leave no stone unturned to ensure Colin Barnett and the Liberals are returned.

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WA Election 2017: WA Liberals do preference deal with One Nation - Perth Now