History is in the making
Detail:
What a night. What a morning. And there you have it. We have a hung parliament, and as I write this, there is most certainly a fair amount of backroom negotiating going on to try to shape the next government.
It’s been a General Election of disappointments, shocks and ironies.
It’s ironic that despite the Tories achieving their biggest swing against Labour in 80 years, they could not win enough seats to form a majority.
It’s been disappointment after disappointment for the Lib Dems. Was Nick Clegg’s amnesty for immigrants the nail in the coffin, despite the ‘Clegmania’ that swept the nation?
Shocks? There have been those aplenty. Northern Ireland’s First Minister Peter Robinson lost to Alliance party’s deputy leader Naomi Long by just over 1,500 votes. Flamboyant Lib Dem Lembit Öpik lost his seat in Montgomeryshire by just over 1,000 votes. Another high-profile Lib Dem candidate, Dr Evan Harris, lost Oxford West and Abingdon to Conservative Nicola Blackwood by 176 votes.
Labour’s Charles Clarke lost to Lib Dem Simon Wright by 310 votes, and perhaps not so surprisingly, Jacqui Smith lost her Redditch seat to Tory Karen Lumley by a resounding 5,821 votes, a 22 per cent swing. The list goes on.
There has even been scandal as hundreds of voters were turned away at polling stations. Apparently, national turnout was 64.6 per cent, up from 61.4 per cent in 2005 and 59.4 per cent in 2001. The prospect of legal challenges muddies the waters further.
What has market reaction been to the results? Well, the FTSE has dropped and the pound fell against the dollar to its lowest in about a year as well as falling sharply against the euro.
And, of course, this is all playing out with the Greek financial crisis in the background. And the fact that the country’s budget deficit is running at more than 11 per cent of GDP. Which means painful spending cuts are necessary, no matter who takes control of the government.
Small businesses are rooting for David Cameron to secure a majority, believing the Tories are the best bet to encourage investment and create jobs. And let’s not forget the controversial Labour plans to raise National Insurance contributions from April 2011.
Ultimately, a decision over the structure of Parliament has to be reached by May 25, because that is when the Queen will give her speech to mark the opening of Parliament. However, pundits say a decision has to be made long before then.
The fact is that Gordon Brown is still Prime Minister. He has the Constitution on his side and will have the first chance to form a government…a Lab-Lib Dem coalition government? If he is unable to command support in the Commons, the Queen then passes the baton to the next best-placed man to try, therefore David Cameron.
Uncertain times, indeed.
It’s been a General Election of disappointments, shocks and ironies.
It’s ironic that despite the Tories achieving their biggest swing against Labour in 80 years, they could not win enough seats to form a majority.
It’s been disappointment after disappointment for the Lib Dems. Was Nick Clegg’s amnesty for immigrants the nail in the coffin, despite the ‘Clegmania’ that swept the nation?
Shocks? There have been those aplenty. Northern Ireland’s First Minister Peter Robinson lost to Alliance party’s deputy leader Naomi Long by just over 1,500 votes. Flamboyant Lib Dem Lembit Öpik lost his seat in Montgomeryshire by just over 1,000 votes. Another high-profile Lib Dem candidate, Dr Evan Harris, lost Oxford West and Abingdon to Conservative Nicola Blackwood by 176 votes.
Labour’s Charles Clarke lost to Lib Dem Simon Wright by 310 votes, and perhaps not so surprisingly, Jacqui Smith lost her Redditch seat to Tory Karen Lumley by a resounding 5,821 votes, a 22 per cent swing. The list goes on.
There has even been scandal as hundreds of voters were turned away at polling stations. Apparently, national turnout was 64.6 per cent, up from 61.4 per cent in 2005 and 59.4 per cent in 2001. The prospect of legal challenges muddies the waters further.
What has market reaction been to the results? Well, the FTSE has dropped and the pound fell against the dollar to its lowest in about a year as well as falling sharply against the euro.
And, of course, this is all playing out with the Greek financial crisis in the background. And the fact that the country’s budget deficit is running at more than 11 per cent of GDP. Which means painful spending cuts are necessary, no matter who takes control of the government.
Small businesses are rooting for David Cameron to secure a majority, believing the Tories are the best bet to encourage investment and create jobs. And let’s not forget the controversial Labour plans to raise National Insurance contributions from April 2011.
Ultimately, a decision over the structure of Parliament has to be reached by May 25, because that is when the Queen will give her speech to mark the opening of Parliament. However, pundits say a decision has to be made long before then.
The fact is that Gordon Brown is still Prime Minister. He has the Constitution on his side and will have the first chance to form a government…a Lab-Lib Dem coalition government? If he is unable to command support in the Commons, the Queen then passes the baton to the next best-placed man to try, therefore David Cameron.
Uncertain times, indeed.
By:
Sandra
Date/time :
07/05/2010
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