UK General Election

[Matt Black]

It may have escaped your attention, but we've had a general election here today. The polls closed a couple of hours ago. Exit polls suggest that the Conservatives have 305 seats, Labour 255 seats and Liberal Democrats (our centre-left party) 61 seats. To form a majority government, a party has to have 326 MPs, so the Conservatives are 21 seats short of a majority based on the exit poll. However, we have had three results declared thus far which suggest the Conservatives may well get a majority. There are also allegations of voters being turned away at close of the polls because there were insufficient ballot papers in some seats, so this could be our version of the 2000 US Presidential election.

Will keep you posted but I'm praying for a Conservative win....

You can follow the results here

 

[Salty]

Thank you for the update.

Sometimes it seems us Americans only think U.S. elections have any importance.

Salty

 

[Matt Black]

Our own little version of the 'hanging chads' seems to be getting worse as the night (it's just after 1am here) goes on...

 

[Matt Black]

The overall result is still too close to call.

 

[Cutter]

Hopefully the political pendulum in England can swing to the right with this election. Blessings:1_grouphug:

 

[FR7 Baptist]

Matt Black, if Labour and the Conservatives both fail to get a majority, wouldn't that mean that one of them would have to form a coalition with the Liberal Democrats to form a government?

 

[Matt Black]

Yes, particularly if the Conservatives get less than 300 seats. What would happen is that Gordon Brown, as sitting Prime Minister, even if Labour get fewer seats than the Conservatives, would have first chance to form a coalition government with the Lib Dems - a kind of centre-left, 'progressive' government; our constitution provides that the incumbent Prime Minister is allowed to try to form a government in this event, (although David Cameron, the Conservative leader may well assert his moral right to form a government). However, the Lib Dem leader, Nick Clegg, has said that if that was the case, Labour would have to ditch Brown as leader, which means he'd have to step down as Prime Minister. The Labour Party would then have to elect one of their other MPs to be leader, who would then become Prime Minister in all probability, probably the Foreign Secretary (and Hillary Clinton's friend) David Miliband. The Queen has made it clear that she isn't going to see anyone to appoint as Prime Minister until at least 1pm BST Friday if there is no overall majority so that deals can be thrashed out.

 

[FR7 Baptist]

I'm not all that educated on British politics, but isn't the Prime Minister technically appointed by the Queen? If no deal is reached between the parties, what will she do?

 

[Matt Black]

Brown remains PM until he resigns. He will have to resign if it is clear that he doesn't command the support of a majority of the House of Commons. At that point the Queen's role may become crucial; she has to appoint someone who does command such a majority and can get a legislative program and budget through. She will be guided (a) by any deal that's struck and (b) by the Privy Council, which is composed of former PMs and other ex-government members.

 

[FR7 Baptist]

Brown remains PM until he resigns. He will have to resign if it is clear that he doesn't command the support of a majority of the House of Commons. At that point the Queen's role may become crucial; she has to appoint someone who does command such a majority and can get a legislative program and budget through. She will be guided (a) by any deal that's struck and (b) by the Privy Council, which is composed of former PMs and other ex-government members.

I know her role is mostly ceremonial, but how good is the Queen at making decisions on the rare case she has to?

 

[Matt Black]

Her track record is pretty good - don't forget she's been in the job for nearly 60 years and has had 11 Prime Ministers; she's been instrumental in choosing at least 2 of them.

Brown has the advantage over Cameron in cosying up to the Lib Dems and striking a deal with them because Brown would be prepared to offer Clegg a referendum on electoral and constitutional reform, which Cameron won't be prepared to offer. But Clegg's difficulty is that he's on record as saying that the party with the highest vote should have a chance to form a government first, so your guess is as good as mine.

 

[Matt Black]

Latest news is the Conservatives are still short of an overall majority (Con 291, Lab 251, Lib Dem 52 seats) and Brown is hanging on as PM; however, in the last few minutes, the Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg has said that, as the Conservatives have won the largest number of votes and seats, they should form the government.

 

[ccrobinson]

Matt, are you sure that you're not electing The Master as Prime Minister? :smilewinkgrin:

 

[Matt Black]

No gas masks have thus far been seen going into 10 Downing Street but I'll keep you posted...

 

[Matt Black]

Cameron's made an offer to the Lib Dems: possibility of electoral reform and negotiations on energy and education policy in return for the following 'red lines': defence (replacing our nuclear deterrent), immigration (no amnesty for illegals) and fiscal deficit reduction now.

We'll have to see what Clegg says to that...

 

[Matt Black]

Monday morning here and still no Con-Lib deal, so still no government...

 

[Matt Black]

Looks like the Con-Lib Dem talks are failing and that the LibDems will do a deal with Labour. Worst possible outcome...

 

[Thinkingstuff]

Looks like the Con-Lib Dem talks are failing and that the LibDems will do a deal with Labour. Worst possible outcome...

Wow. How are the Torries holding up?

 

[NaasPreacher (C4K)]

What a mess. GB will step down in the autumn. So now it looks like no Con-Dem Nation (read as one word ) for the UK.

The alternative, some kind of Labour/LibDem hodgepodge with a bunch of small parties would have very little chance of stability since everyone will want their cut.

Fascinating!

 

[Matt Black]

Wow. How are the Torries holding up?

They're still wanting to talk to the Lib-Dems and have even offered them a referendum on electoral reform, which is a massive concession for them, but in return for this they want the return of prominent right-wingers to a Conservative-LD administration: Michael Howard, Iain Duncan Smith and David Davies in particular (look 'em up on wiki!).


I'm more depressed by the fact that we STILL don't have a viable government here and I really do fear the worst when the markets reopen tomorrow morning; we got a breather today because of the Euro bailout bounce but I expect sterling and the FTSE to fall through the floor tomorrow morning (or Wednesday at the latest if we're lucky), with dire consequences for the economy.