The UK political thread (formerly independence thread)

[Danroush]

Yeah ofc, it's laughable though that UKIP will have more than twice and many votes as lib dems but only a fifth of the seats.

[Matty_the_Emo_Slayer]

If the exit poll comes out bang on then the DUP and UKIP should collectively have enough seats to give the Tories a majority. I'm hoping they'll either be a few seats short or the DUP or UKIPs demands will be too high. The DUP will be looking mostly for money I expect (that inevitably won't be used to reverse public sector cuts they've made), not so sure for UKIP as Cameron will likely call an EU referendum and cap immigration anyway.

There's also a chance both the potential junior partners will have too much toxic publicity even for the Tories' right of centre base. Looking at the DUP's past of threatening to collapse the NI executive every few months over something trivial will make Cameron nervous of a formal agreement too. UKIP would likely be as immature or worse. A minority government and an informal occasional vote agreement could be more likely, but it would obviously be unstable. The Tories could rely on support for fiscal policies from those two, but not in any social or reform matters. Cameron would only ever be a few failed bills away from a vote of no confidence.

The unfortunate flipside is, with Labour being second in line to try and form a government but still expected to be 87 seats shy even trading cabinet positions to SNP and the Lib Dems and an occasional voting agreement with the Greens, Plaid Cymru, SDLP, independents etc. mathematically won't be enough.

In short, I reckon we'll be back at the polls soon. Either next month if no one can form a government, or in the next 1-2 years if Cameron can't rule as a minority PM. Either way, I can't see it being 2020 that the next election is called.

[Bisset]

I called an SNP landslide a month ago and no one believed me. The fools!

[Metalchemyst]

Yeah ofc, it's laughable though that UKIP will have more than twice and many votes as lib dems but only a fifth of the seats.

Petition for PR if anyone thinks it's worthwhile:

https://www.change.org/p/party-leaders- ... dium=email

[kanet666]

Well, this could be the start of a long five years.

[keera_envenomed]

Well, this could be the start of a long five years.

I might move to Denmark. I've heard it's nice there.

[CharlesDexterWard]

That was some night, I never expected the SNP and the Tories to do quite as well.

It has been great watching Labour and the Lib Dems implode.

[VirginInvader]

So after all that fuss, nothing really changes unless you're a jock. And nobody gives a toss about that mob anyway. So perhaps now we can focus on the important news story of the day ie. the VE day commemoration.

[Gandalf the Red]

I'm disappointed with the voters. One fit MP in the entire country and they get rid of her. Boooo.

[CharlesDexterWard]

I'm disappointed with the voters. One fit MP in the entire country and they get rid of her. Boooo.

Anne Widdecombe?

[Tet]

Farage failing to win his seat would be glorious.

Personally, I'm really hoping he wins it. Not because I support him or his party, but because UKIP voters are massively underrepresented. The system is broken and needs to change.

[Haldamir319]

BBC reports Farage has failed!

[Johnny Tightlips]

Farage failing to win his seat would be glorious.

Personally, I'm really hoping he wins it. Not because I support him or his party, but because UKIP voters are massively underrepresented. The system is broken and needs to change.

Yep, as above, he's officially lost. I agree with you though Tet, its a shame. I've been a long-time UKIP supporter, though I did switch to another party for this election as I feel they've lost their appeal for me, but if only for old times sake I would have liked him to succeed. Still, thats politics I guess.

[houston4044]

So that's 4 leaders who are likely to go then,

Milliband, Clegg, Bennett and Farage.

I just can't believe the Tories won... regardless of Labour, who thought the Torie's were a good idea? I honestly can't understand their appeal...

This election shows both why we need a different voting system...and also why we won't get another voting system gah

[Skippy]

The system seems so heavily weighed in the Tories favour, since Attlee we've had...2(?) elected Labour Prime Ministers? I suppose it shouldn't be much of a surprise, every other party seemed so fractured, noone seemed to present a strong opposition, especially if all the Scottish people are going to vote for their own party. I'm interested in seeing how many straight up votes each party got, rather than seat representation.

Historically though I'd say going Conservative is pretty much the worst thing people could do. It seems like during times of recession the Conservatives always win, despite the fact that surely a party who are going to try and make changes would benefit people - and vice versa, in times of success surely a party that's going to keep things as they are is better? It seems so stupid.