UK General ELection 7 May 2015

[peejaye]

Yes Laphroaig but Westminster may have to listen to you now. How can you be governed by London when they only have one MP in Scotland? It's mad!
I wanted independence for Scotland in the referendum because I seriously considered moving "lock, stock & barrel" up there to get away from this "far right filth" which as destroyed this once great Kingdom!
Lots of English people admire Nicola Sturgeon because of her passion for "her" people. I am one of them.

[Stavros]

When I started this thread on the 31st of March, I wrote:
"my own worthless opinion on the evidence so far is that we will return on May 8th with the same Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition that we have had these past five years."

Although my prediction is sort of right, I clearly underestimated the extent of the losses suffered by both Labour and the Liberal Democrats, but it still remains my view that with a slender majority the Tories will either offer an extension of the coalition agreement with the remaining Liberal Democrats or try to seek an understanding on support for key legislation on a vote-by-vote basis. In five years MPs die, defect, are forced to resign, so that the margin of victory though sufficient to form a government is still not the most secure basis on which Cameron can be Prime Minister.

One key issue is in the slippery concept of legitimacy -given the hammering they have received, could the Liberal Democrats seriously entertain joining a coalition? Power is a drug, and they have little else to lose, and could be given junior positions in the government. Moreover, by doing this, Cameron can again kick into touch the referendum on the UK's membership of the EU as the price for forming a coalition, but would risk alienating an already unsettled anti-European bloc in his party which, with enough defections could threaten to undermine his rule. Whether or not Cameron could call on the Northern Ireland parties, the DUP in particular is obscure. Northern Ireland would want some serious cash in return.

The obvious legitimacy deficit is in Scotland where none of the English parties now have a presence of any significance outside Council seats, important as these are on a day to day basis. However, for London to lose control of a large part of the UK is not unprecedented in British politics.
In the General Election of 1918, 73 out of the 105 seats in Ireland were won by Sinn Fein, who not only refused to take their seats in the House of Commons, but established an (illegal) independent government in Dublin, deepening the crisis that had been taking place since the Easter Rising of 1916 and setting Ireland on the road to civil war. It was also the first major breakaway from the British Empire and symbolically also important as Ireland had been a possession since the 12th century. However, I do not expect a civil war to erupt north of the border!

How the new government relates to the SNP is going to be fascinating, but it is also the greatest challenge that the SNP have faced as they have to deliver something to an electorate that has been so aroused since last year's independence referendum. Issues that have been talked about include 'fiscal autonomy', ending the 'Barnett formula' -but I dont see any agreement on nuclear weapons, but we shall see.

It has been a dramatic night, the most astonishing being the loss of Ed Balls, I don't think anyone saw that coming. It is rare for three party leaders to resign on the same day, but we can say farewell to three men who, it turns out, are not considered leaders at all by the people who matter. The Labour Party is in crisis, it has never performed as badly as this since Thatcher's wipeout of 1983 but where it goes from here nobody knows. I think the time might be ripe for the dissolution of the parties and the creation of new parties which reflect the world in which we now live. I would hope that the younger generation under the age of 40 can now step up to the challenge and begin the process of change this country so badly needs. People have voted grudgingly for more of the same, because the alternative was so much more unattractive.

Nigel Farage like the Liberals of old has complained that the Scots with 1 million votes get 56 MPs and UKIP with 3 million get 1, exposing his ignorance of the country he sought to lead. A simple glance at the map of Scotland reveals that not may people live on mountains which Scotland has in abundance, and that the concentration of the population into the urban areas between Glasgow in the West and Edinburgh in the East, and in the industrial areas of Dundee, Ayr and Aberdeen is the source of all those parliamentary seats -unless someone is suggesting Scotland have constituencies with over 200,000 voters, the political geography reflects the spread of seats across Scotland, it is a geographical reality that only proportional representation can change, and we rejected that in 2011.

Needless to say my constituency is yet to declare, even though it is 1.20 in the afternoon. Apparently a goat was seen in the dawn light heading off into the bushes with a clutch of ballot papers in its jaws, followed by numerous confused constables and a photographer. Let's hope they don't need a re-count. And all this to elect a Tory!

[flabbybody]

I'll have to re-read your post a few times to fully soak in your analysis... spot on as always Stavros. One thing's for sure... no one named Ed Balls should ever leave public life.

[Stavros]

Some interesting figures and stats:

Voter turnout remains low at 66.1% but the highest this century -the turnout was higher in Scotland @ 71%.

Transgendered candidates results:

Emily Brothers -Labour, Sutton and Cheam -came third with 11% of the vote.
Zoe O'Connell -Liberal Democrat, Maldon -came fifth with 4.5% of the vote.
Stella Gardiner -Green Party, Bexleyheath and Crayford -came fifth with 2% of the vote.
Charlie Kiss -Islington South and Finsbury -came fifth with 7.6% of the vote.

There are more non-white MPs in the House of Commons, up to 41 from 27 (Labour 23, Tories 17.

The first MP of Chinese descent, Alan Mak was elected to Havant for the Conservatives.

Other odd facts here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-32651781

[Odelay]

Yes Laphroaig but Westminster may have to listen to you now. How can you be governed by London when they only have one MP in Scotland? It's mad!
I wanted independence for Scotland in the referendum because I seriously considered moving "lock, stock & barrel" up there to get away from this "far right filth" which as destroyed this once great Kingdom!
Lots of English people admire Nicola Sturgeon because of her passion for "her" people. I am one of them.

peejaye, and others, with what you know of American politics, would you gather that your far right filth is worse than the Republican Party in the US? As a liberal, I certainly understand your reaction to the party on the right, but the Tories have always seemed rather tame, to me, when compared to the right wing idealogues here in the US who have completely taken over the Republican Party. This new idiot Senator Tom Cotton is what I expect from the Grand Ol' Party from now until ... well, actually, I see it never changing.

[flabbybody]

113 people voted for a dead guy. Where they trying to make a point or just stupid?

[Jericho]

113 people voted for a dead guy. Where they trying to make a point or just stupid?

I'd like to think they were trying to make a point, but having seen the results of this election...

[Laphroaig]

113 people voted for a dead guy. Where they trying to make a point or just stupid?

As Jericho says, I'd hope they did it either to make a point or out of respect for the candidate.

As for stupid voting, remind us again, how many Americans voted George W Bush in for a SECOND term of office?...

[Jericho]

peejaye, and others, with what you know of American politics, would you gather that your far right filth is worse than the Republican Party in the US?

Google Iain Duncan Smith.

[broncofan]

I was interested in the UK elections because I've never followed a parliamentary election. It would seem the Tories are more tame than our Republicans, but given the choice, the electorate chose the right wing option for the second straight time. You can't at once be worried about the Tories dismantling your nationalized health care system and then on the other think they really are tame.

Anyhow, if I were to venture a guess..I think if we had a parliamentary system many of the more extreme Republicans would form their own party…they do not because we vote for a single executive in a separate election and dividing the vote would compromise them too much. As a result we have an agglomeration of varied interests under one tent which adds to the perception they are more extreme.

As for how the various elections were contested, I'd have to disagree with some of the comments indicating that in the U.S. we consider more superficial factors like how photogenic a candidate is. The focus on Ed Miliband's appearance, his social awkwardness, how he eats sandwiches, whether he committed fratricide, his father's disposition towards treason; well it wasn't exactly high brow. It was exactly the type of thing we'd hear in our elections and quite persistent too. I did enjoy how engaged the people seem to be in the electoral process though and hope the next five years under Cameron go well.