The 2015 General Election

[CarewsEyebrowDesigner]

A lot depends on how the Lib Dems do.

[smetrov]

As a slight aside, its worth pointing that MP'S of all parties quite often vote against policies put forward by there own party. So even majority governments are sometimes seeking support from smaller parties.

 

In the late 1970's SNP voted with the conservatives to bring down a Labour government - Labours approval for the Iraq war wouldn't have got through without support from the conservatives. My point is although you need a seat count to form a majority government - that government often needs the support of parties other than its own MP'S 

[smetrov]

A lot depends on how the Lib Dems do.

 

Dunno - they've been badly stung by the coalition - IMO they are most likely to support labour - but not in a full blown coalition. I don't see them getting enough seats to hold a balance of power this time.

[Demitri_C]

i think this election victory for labour in the long run is going to cause huge damage to them as my assumption is eds not tough enough to deal with the SNP and they will tear him and balls to shreds. i think labour and snp partnership wont last longer 2 years and then there will be another election where i think labour will get completely wiped out as people will be so angry with him for lying about not doing a deal with SNP as we all know he definitely will

 

like i said before its not great now but i think its gonna get a lot worse with a labour-snp in control

[tonyh29]

Labour then have the opportunity to present theirs and the SNP will back it along with the other left wing parties as it means the back of the Tories.

Democratically speaking ( and forget it's the Tories in this instance ) do you think that this is right ?

I mean arguably if the Tories are the biggest party that means they got more votes from the public ... Does that give the lesser parties the right to install the man that came second out of spite ?

( forget also that the man that came first is only likely to carry around 34% of the vote )

[markavfc40]

 the SNP and they will tear him and balls to shreds. i think labour and snp partnership wont last longer 2 years

 

In what way? the SNP may have around 50 seats. Labour around 270. There won't be any formal coalition or deal. Labour will govern on a policy by policy basis. They will put their policies to the vote and it is then up to the Lib Dems, Greens, SNP and Plaid Cymru to back Labour or, along with the Tories, block them.

The SNP will have far more to lose by blocking Labour and siding with the Tories.

The thought of the country being governed in such away would have been unthinkable 5 years ago. This though looks likely to be what the people of the UK will have voted for based on the constraints of the current system. Many said a coalition wouldn't last and it did. The days of party's getting an overall majority may well be over and what is likely to happen in this election is something we may well have to get used to. As others have said it is something that has been happening for a while in other country's.

[markavfc40]

 

Labour then have the opportunity to present theirs and the SNP will back it along with the other left wing parties as it means the back of the Tories.

Democratically speaking ( and forget it's the Tories in this instance ) do you think that this is right ?

I mean arguably if the Tories are the biggest party that means they got more votes from the public ... Does that give the lesser parties the right to install the man that came second out of spite ?

( forget also that the man that came first is only likely to carry around 34% of the vote )

 

 

 

What do you think should happen then? the Tories can't govern and then every policy they put forward gets voted down. Surely that couldn't happen for 5 years. Do you have another election and the cost involved, and continued uncertainty in that, with the potential for a similar result. Where would it end.

Edited May 1, 2015 by markavfc40

[tonyh29]

Labour then have the opportunity to present theirs and the SNP will back it along with the other left wing parties as it means the back of the Tories.

Democratically speaking ( and forget it's the Tories in this instance ) do you think that this is right ?

I mean arguably if the Tories are the biggest party that means they got more votes from the public ... Does that give the lesser parties the right to install the man that came second out of spite ?

( forget also that the man that came first is only likely to carry around 34% of the vote )

What do you think should happen then? the Tories can't govern and then every policy they put forward gets voted down. Surely that couldn't happen for 5 years. Do you have another election and the cost involved, and continued uncertainty in that, with the potential for a similar result. Where would it end.

Well you could argue that of late labour and Conservative are one and the same so they do have a lot of common ground ... For example although the Tories haven't taken it as far as Labour did they do both want to privatise parts of the NHS

I don't really have a solution , I was just asking a question of is Spite enough of a reason to put the other guy in ...

[PaulC]

Being as the only chance Labour have of forming a govt is to form a coalition with the snp, I can't understand why the Labour party would want to rule this out.

 

Easy

 

Because the SNP have ruled out any deal with the tories. They have no where else to go but Labour - so Ed doesn't need an agreement\Coalition - its already there   (Called showing your hand to early !)

 

Trouble is, he's stated live on TV he doesn't want to deal with them at all so surely if he backtracks after the election results, that's this campaign's Tuition fees moment so people wouldn't take him serious in government when he promises stuff like we've seen with Clegg?

 

He doesn't have to deal with them though does he. He presents his Queens speech and they and the rest of the left wing parties will back it simply to see the back of the Tories. He then presents his policies and I'd imagine initially at least they will back them as otherwise they will be siding with the Tories in blocking them. I am sure somewhere down the line the SNP will try their hand though.

Sorry but how does that work if Labour don't get the largest number of seats? He can't take govt without a coalition with the SNP first.

 

Of course he can. If the Tories know that whatever they put the other parties will vote down - then typically they wouldn't go to queens speech (although in theory they could) - Labour could then present a queens speech - and the SNP have to choose whether to vote it down.

 

As EM has just said on the news - how the SNP vote in parliament is a matter for them.

Has there ever been a precedent for this though, as i have never heard anything like this or are people just guessing this would happen or have you heard something?

Edited May 1, 2015 by PaulC

[tonyh29]

Few rumours going around that SNP supporters met Eds car as it turned up in Glasgow and greeted him with shouts of "Scum" etc and it got a bit hairy

I can't find anything on any news sources but seen a few Facebook posters referring to it. ( yeah I know I know ) but the Facebook stuff does seem to be credible

[colhint]

 

 

 

 

 the SNP and they will tear him and balls to shreds. i think labour and snp partnership wont last longer 2 years

 

In what way? the SNP may have around 50 seats. Labour around 270. There won't be any formal coalition or deal. Labour will govern on a policy by policy basis. They will put their policies to the vote and it is then up to the Lib Dems, Greens, SNP and Plaid Cymru to back Labour or, along with the Tories, block them.

The SNP will have far more to lose by blocking Labour and siding with the Tories.

The thought of the country being governed in such away would have been unthinkable 5 years ago. This though looks likely to be what the people of the UK will have voted for based on the constraints of the current system. Many said a coalition wouldn't last and it did. The days of party's getting an overall majority may well be over and what is likely to happen in this election is something we may well have to get used to. As others have said it is something that has been happening for a while in other country's.

 

 

I think that's somewhat naive. Hasn't Sturgeon already said, no trident, no Austerity and Scottish independence vote. She already controls Scotlands' votes. what has she got to lose?  If Labour don't give her at least one of those, why would she vote for the first Labour Budget:

Edited May 1, 2015 by colhint

[brommy]

Does that give the lesser parties the right to install the man that came second out spite?

Out of spite? No. Out of reason? Yes.

No matter who the largest party is, I wouldn't blame Parliament if they felt the only way forward was to decide on who was liked the least by the country. I remember the alternative vote being described that went something like this. Supposing a group of 10 people want to go for a drink. 4 people want to go to the cafe for a coffee, 3 people want to go to the Red Lion for a beer, 2 people would prefer to go for a beer in the King George and 1 person wants to visit the Crown. The cafe wins the vote but 6 of the 10 are annoyed. Instead the King George and Crown voters agree whilst a beer in the Red Lion isn't quite as nice as their favourite pub, it is better than a coffee in the cafe. I think it finished with all 10 friends going to a pub and getting hammered.

If the Conservatives can't muster a straight Parliament majority or a coalition with the help of another party or parties (most likely in my opinion), I think it will lead to another election where they either get a small majority or just about manage a coalition with the LibDems (further alienating more of their supporters).

On a not unrelated note; whilst I am aware that UKIP have ruled out a coalition with any party, have they confirmed what UKIP's stance is on a confidence and supply arrangement? Would UKIP prop up a minority Conservative government if Cameron agreed to remain neutral in an EU referendum (instead of supporting an IN vote as is currently proposed/expected)?

Edited May 1, 2015 by brommy

[tonyh29]

Seems it's not just in England ......

[bickster]

 

the SNP and they will tear him and balls to shreds. i think labour and snp partnership wont last longer 2 years

 

In what way? the SNP may have around 50 seats. Labour around 270. There won't be any formal coalition or deal. Labour will govern on a policy by policy basis. They will put their policies to the vote and it is then up to the Lib Dems, Greens, SNP and Plaid Cymru to back Labour or, along with the Tories, block them.

The SNP will have far more to lose by blocking Labour and siding with the Tories.

The thought of the country being governed in such away would have been unthinkable 5 years ago. This though looks likely to be what the people of the UK will have voted for based on the constraints of the current system. Many said a coalition wouldn't last and it did. The days of party's getting an overall majority may well be over and what is likely to happen in this election is something we may well have to get used to. As others have said it is something that has been happening for a while in other country's.

 

I think that's somewhat naive. Hasn't Sturgeon already said, no trident, no Austerity and Scottish independence vote. She already controls Scotlands' votes. what has she got to lose?  If Labour don't give her at least one of those, why would she vote for the first Labour Budget:

Because she'll rapidly lose all her Scottish seats if they are continually supporting the Tories then Milliband decides to take the country back to the polls after he's confidant Scotland has turned red again. This is the current Labour plan

[blandy]

 

But realistically it makes no difference - sure the smaller parties may get a few more seats in the house of commons, but so what ? - they still don't influence much (ie say we got 10 Green MP'S - what could they do ?)

firstly thinking about the numbers, there are 650 MPs in total. So in the example of the Greens, if they have 8% that's around 50 MPs. UKIP might have 100, labour 230, tory 230, and SNP, clydd the other 40 Now you can pick a topic and wonder how a vote or policy would go with that balance compared to say a labour or Tory majority, or the current coalition. The Nhs for example. Or bedroom tax , or EU referendum or energy policy. It would make a huge difference

[andyjsg]

The idea of ukip getting 100 MPs is horrifying, also how many MPs would the BNP get?

[Jon]

Caroline Lucas - ought to be PM, or Queen

Damn right Pete!

[Demitri_C]

Because she'll rapidly lose all her Scottish seats if they are continually supporting the Tories then Milliband decides to take the country back to the polls after he's confidant Scotland has turned red again. This is the current Labour plan

 

 Thats actually a good point, but the rest of the country wont forgive labour for lying and allowing the scots to dictate how we do things in this country. The SNP clearly only care about Scotland and no-one else. Sturgeon has not even shyed away from that.

 

In what way? the SNP may have around 50 seats. Labour around 270. There won't be any formal coalition or deal. Labour will govern on a policy by policy basis. They will put their policies to the vote and it is then up to the Lib Dems, Greens, SNP and Plaid Cymru to back Labour or, along with the Tories, block them.

The SNP will have far more to lose by blocking Labour and siding with the Tories.

The thought of the country being governed in such away would have been unthinkable 5 years ago. This though looks likely to be what the people of the UK will have voted for based on the constraints of the current system. Many said a coalition wouldn't last and it did. The days of party's getting an overall majority may well be over and what is likely to happen in this election is something we may well have to get used to. As others have said it is something that has been happening for a while in other country's.

 

Yes but they want independence, which ed and david dont want. They will have more say on trident, our tax. Its actually frightening what could happen, them having a say in our taxes

[mjmooney]

Royal baby due any minute - boost for the Tory vote? Then again, Kate has gone into LABOUR...

[Mantis]

I can't see UKIP MPs being relevant after the election - they'll be lucky to get 2 seats. They're almost certain to win Clacton but that's about it.