General election results 2015

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I'm sorry that there is a Tory majority, but it's only a moderately slim one, and hopefully they won't be able to put too many bonkers policies into effect.

They've already done that, without a majority.

[french frank]

I haven't thought it through yet, but surely if Cameron wants to keep Scotland in the UK he'll have to negotiate with the SNP and that might not work out well - it's really difficult to see how that could be reconciled in the longer term if the SNP really does want independence.

But the SNP can't do anything at all - except have another referendum. It will be the Scots who decide. And if they want to go, Cameron can want what he likes …

I'm sorry that there is a Tory majority, but it's only a moderately slim one, and hopefully they won't be able to put too many bonkers policies into effect.

It's bigger than it looks (slightly) with the Speaker and Sinn Féin removed. Even if every other MP votes against them, which can't be relied on (depending what the vote is about).

[aeolium]

It doesn't give me any pleasure to say that the LibDems' decision to enter a coalition with the Conservatives has ultimately permitted the latter to govern for what looks like being 10 years (at least), without too much restraint on the Conservative programme in the first 5 years within that coalition. The LibDems have now suffered a massive backlash, having been largely deserted in England and Wales by those who had supported them for being a progressive alternative and in Scotland by those who at the Referendum saw them as just one more austerity/unionist party. A lesson learnt too late is that it is fatal for a party extensively reliant on support from the left to go into alliance with the right - and this is a lesson equally applicable to Labour in its alliance with the pro-Unionists in the Scottish Referendum which ultimately sealed its fate in Scotland.

Labour has seemed to suffer from multiple delusions: that it could mask the shortcomings of their leader's image in the minds of the electorate (unfortunately image is critical in the TV/social media age); that "austerity-lite" could ever be an inspiring philosophy to those on the left; that they could continue to campaign for the union in Scotland in partnership with their coalition opponents without suffering significant damage; and that their long-standing (over many decades) dependence on the Celtic fringe to mask their minority support in England would not ultimately be threatened by the rise of nationalism, particularly in Scotland - yet the signs of this were clear in the last Scottish elections. They also falsely calculated that the rise of UKIP mainly in England and Wales would hurt Tory support significantly more than their own - I think this will be shown to be a misunderstanding, and that UKIP has eroded Labour support particularly among its erstwhile working-class base in the Midlands and the North-west. If Labour has any sense once it has recovered from this debacle it would realise it has to throw in its support with those calling for PR; I doubt it can ever again govern as a single party.

That said, there are so many pitfalls ahead for a party ruling with a tiny majority, not least the constitutional ones, that power may be a poisoned chalice.

[eighthobstruction]

....I hate the phrase - "They have a mandate".....<ugh emoticon>

[MrGongGong]

They've already done that, without a majority.

Exactly, and the Libdems whole argument about being some kind of stabilising force has been shown to be spurious nonsense.

It's a shame Clegg won his seat. IMV

Standby for more daft education policies and the privatisation of the NHS and the ludicrous nonsense of the EU referendum. :YIKES:

[Dave2002]

It has been suggested to me that I should join the Conservatives, on the rather crude grounds that "surely it's better to be on the inside p'ing out, rather than on the outside p'ing in ....", but if eveyone with concerns took that view that would lead effectively to a one party system, which would probably not be a good thing. Not all Tories are bad, and indeed that goes for many of the rest of them, and ideas and policies do change. I always hated that business of "traditional Conservative values" as I spent years trying to figure out what that really meant - just as bad as "hard working families" and all the other jargon which gets rolled out from time to time by politicians from all sides.

[Roehre]

I am certainly not unhappy with the result, though I much prefer proportional representation (and the necessity of coalitions) and consider the way the SNP "controls" Scotland, the LibDems are suffering and Ukip getting only one mandate though some 13% or so voting for them and the Tories getting a majority with less than 40% of the cast votes as excesses of the first-past-the-post system.
If such is system is to be maintained, then the French way of having a second round of the winner of the first round against the runner up gives some legitimacy to a government backed by a majority in parlement/commons.

But as in terms of policies it might be an idea to listen to others outside the own party -even though it is the opposition- as no-one can claim that their policies, and only and exclusively their own policies, are right and all others wrong.
That makes Britain in the eyes of Europe, as well of many of the people living on these isles, a country without common sense.

[Roehre]

Exactly, and the Libdems whole argument about being some kind of stabilising force has been shown to be spurious nonsense.

That's somethibng we don't know, and won't know for sure for the next 30 years.

It's a shame Clegg won his seat. IMV

I am very happy Balls lost his

Standby for more daft education policies and the privatisation of the NHS and the ludicrous nonsense of the EU referendum. :YIKES:

Privatisation of the NHS started under Labour, and if the people on these isles prefer to stand in the cold outside Europe, so be it.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

329 seats, fewer than 326 needed.

sorry?

[french frank]

Sorry?

See Msg #17. Numerically 326 is a majority of those entitled to vote. But the Speaker doesn't vote and the Sinn Féin MPs traditionally haven't taken their seats, so that cuts down the number needed. Or were you querying the 329? Now 330.

[vinteuil]

... I think, FF, that ferney's 'sorry?' was a raised eyebrow at the apparent infelicity of your phrasing "329 seats, fewer than 326... ".

Had you said "329 seats; whereas fewer than 326 are required... " I think we ('cos I too had to re-read your sentence to get the meaning... ) wd have had no trouble understanding your point.

[french frank]

A lesson learnt too late is that it is fatal for a party extensively reliant on support from the left to go into alliance with the right - and this is a lesson equally applicable to Labour in its alliance with the pro-Unionists in the Scottish Referendum which ultimately sealed its fate in Scotland.

But the Conservatives have won almost the same number of seats as Labour. Who did they win them from?

What isn't noticed is that each constituency is different. For every one where people voted LibDem to keep the Tories out, another set of voters were voting LibDem to keep Labour out. In the end, neither camp was happy with what it got: 'I didn't vote LD to get a Tory government' or 'Lib Dems have obstructed Conservatives from carrying out their mandate'. Only 8 were Scottish MPs who lost to the SNP. At a quick glance, I'd say there were more losses to Tories than to Labour.

[Serial_Apologist]

If Labour has any sense once it has recovered from this debacle it would realise it has to throw in its support with those calling for PR; I doubt it can ever again govern as a single party.

Which in all the models of PR of which I'm aware would divorce the voter even more than at present from his or her elected representative - long extolled as the chief purpose of voting, not support for a government - let alone the usual imponderables PR involves, e.g. legitimising post-election manifesto compromises in the bargaining process, which even with FPTP has been the main source of the LibDems' support loss.

[subcontrabass]

Labour has seemed to suffer from multiple delusions: that it could mask the shortcomings of their leader's image in the minds of the electorate (unfortunately image is critical They also falsely calculated that the rise of UKIP mainly in England and Wales would hurt Tory support significantly more than their own - I think this will be shown to be a misunderstanding, and that UKIP has eroded Labour support particularly among its erstwhile working-class base in the Midlands and the North-west. If Labour has any sense once it has recovered from this debacle it would realise it has to throw in its support with those calling for PR; I doubt it can ever again govern as a single party.

That said, there are so many pitfalls ahead for a party ruling with a tiny majority, not least the constitutional ones, that power may be a poisoned chalice.

Hmm. I note that the Labour share of the total vote INCREASED, and by twice as much as the Tories. Roll on PR.

[french frank]

... I think, FF, that ferney's 'sorry?' was a raised eyebrow at the apparent infelicity of your phrasing "329 seats, fewer than 326... ".

Ah, I see the point. There was an ellipsis.