David Cameron is UK's new prime minister

[Netto Azure]

UK set for hung Parliament with Tories largest party

David Cameron says Labour "has lost its mandate to govern" as the Conservatives look set to be the biggest party in a hung parliament.

​

With more than 500 general election results in out of 650, the BBC is predicting a hung Parliament with the Tories as the largest party.
Labour cannot now win a majority, but it is not clear which party will be in a position to form a government.
Tory leader David Cameron said it was "clear that the Labour government has lost its mandate to govern".
Gordon Brown may start coalition talks with the Lib Dems, who, Nick Clegg admitted, had a "disappointing night" .
The BBC projection suggests David Cameron's Conservatives will have 306 seats. If there are 10 Unionists elected in Northern Ireland then Mr Cameron might be able to command 316 - probably still slightly too few for him to be sure of winning a Queen's Speech.
But Labour and the Lib Dems together would have 317 seats, according to the BBC figures, which even with three SDLP MPs would still leave them at 320 - again probably just a few votes short.



Expenses
Shadow foreign secretary William Hague says any attempt by Brown at securing a pact with Lib Dems "would be a shameless piece of politics".
But senior Labour figures have said that under the rules of Britain's constitution, the sitting prime minister in a hung parliament makes the first attempt at forming a ruling coalition.
In other election night news:

• Northern Ireland's first minister and DUP leader Peter Robinson has been defeated in East Belfast by the Alliance party
• The Greens have gained their first MP at Westminster - party leader Caroline Lucas in Brighton Pavillion
• Education secretary Ed Balls hung on in Morley and Outwood by just over 100 votes but former Home Secretary Charles Clarke narrowly lost to the Lib Dem candidate in Norwich South
• Jacqui Smith, who stood down as home secretary over her expenses, lost her Redditch seat to the Conservative but Hazel Blears retained her seat in Salford
• Labour's Margaret Hodge beat the BNP's Nick Griffin in Barking and Dagenham, with a 5% increase in her vote
• Esther Rantzen came fourth in Luton South, which went to the Labour candidate
• Lib Dem frontbencher Lembit Opik has lost his Montgomeryshire seat after suffering a 13.2% swing to the Conservatives
• There were angry scenes and calls for an inquiry after people were turned away from polling stations as long queues formed ahead of the 2200 BST voting deadline.

With most results in, the Lib Dem vote is up 0.9% on 2005, Labour down 6.5% and the Conservatives up 4%.
Turnout is running at 65.2%, a modest increase on the 2005 general election.

Well here we are the next day with a hung parliament.

Here's a chart with the possible ways the government will be formed:

But whatever government comes out of this will be saddled with some of the toughest questions on finances for the next generation. Good Luck to them.
​

Soap Box thread.

 

[Netto Azure]

Re: UK set for hung Parliament with Conservatives as largest party

Gordon Brown 'stepping down as Labour leader'


Gordon Brown says he is to step down as leader of the Labour Party as the battle mounts to form the next UK government.

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Gordon Brown is to step down as Labour leader by September - as his party opens formal talks with the Lib Dems about forming a government.

His announcement came as he and the Conservatives woo the Lib Dems in a battle to run the country.
Mr Brown's presence was seen as harming Labour's chances of Lib Dem backing.
The Tories reacted by making a "final offer" to the Lib Dems of a referendum on changing the voting method to the Alternative Vote system.
Conservative sources have told the BBC that on Monday morning the Conservative and Liberal Democrat teams were discussing a stripped-down deal in which the Lib Dems would not topple the Tories in a confidence vote.
'Progressive majority'
It is now understood the Lib Dems are seeking a full coalition with either Labour or the Conservatives. Liberal Democrat MPs are to meet at 2200BST to discuss the party's next move. There are no plans at the moment for Tory negotiators to resume their talks with the Lib Dems, the BBC understands.
BBC political editor Nick Robinson said Mr Brown's resignation was an audacious bid by Mr Brown to keep Labour in power - and himself in power for a limited period - and Tory MPs would be furious.
In his statement, Mr Brown said Britain had a "parliamentary and not presidential system" and said there was a "progressive majority" of voters.
He said if the national interest could be best served by a coalition between the Lib Dems and Labour he would "discharge that duty to form that government".
But he added that no party had won an overall majority in the UK general election and, as Labour leader, he had to accept that as a judgement on him.

Well it seems he's setting up a path to a possible Labour-Lib Dem coalition. =3=

 

[Lord Fedora]

Re: Gordon Brown 'stepping down as Labour leader'

"Disappointing night"... that's one way of putting it.

Yeah, you Brits and your Parliament confuse me. As much as it annoys me I'm going to stick with my simple two-party Congress thanks.

 

[Pyrope]

Re: Gordon Brown 'stepping down as Labour leader'

I hope with all my heart that he is setting up a Labour/Lib Dem coalition ;A; I worry that they still wont have enough seats to win the majority. To be honest though, I'd be willing to have him step down to form the coalition but I guess we will see...

 

[RavenKingSage]

Re: Gordon Brown 'stepping down as Labour leader'

"Disappointing night"... that's one way of putting it.

Yeah, you Brits and your Parliament confuse me. As much as it annoys me I'm going to stick with my simple two-party Congress thanks.

Not much to understand really... There's an election between three parties, they compete for the most seats. Pretty simple, right?

Although I really think that Labour and Lib Dems should merge, because I can't see any differences between them...

 

[Phoenicks]

Re: Gordon Brown 'stepping down as Labour leader'

Lucky Britons, seeing a terrible leader fall to the wayside. Hopefully this actually create a Lib/Labour coalition that will collapse with the need for new elections.

Dream on Phoenicks, Dream On.

 

[Netto Azure]

Re: Gordon Brown 'stepping down as Labour leader'

Lucky Britons, seeing a terrible leader fall to the wayside. Hopefully this actually create a Lib/Labour coalition that will collapse with the need for new elections.

Dream on Phoenicks, Dream On.

Pfft. Dream on. A Tory-Lib Dem coalition would be fine. Even an outright Conservative Majority would have been better. They would totally own all the "hard choices" that will be taken this generation.

 

[Swift Deere]

Re: Gordon Brown 'stepping down as Labour leader'

a labour lib dem coalition gov would not be good thats for sure

 

[Lord Fedora]

Re: Gordon Brown 'stepping down as Labour leader'

Not much to understand really... There's an election between three parties, they compete for the most seats. Pretty simple, right?

And then you need permission from the Queen, who apparently can have some criteria other than "this party got the most seats," and two parties can form an alliance to outdo the party that got the majority, and all sorts of nonsense that involves multiple parties actually cooperating. It makes my head hurt.

Although I really think that Labour and Lib Dems should merge, because I can't see any differences between them...

Labour can win? /burn

 

[Pidgeot]

Re: Gordon Brown 'stepping down as Labour leader'

Ok, so Gordon Brown is stepping down, RIGHT NOW. And it hasn't been revealed yet, but Conservatives are merging Lib Dems. So David Cameron will become PM by the end of the week.

 

[CrackFox]

Re: Gordon Brown 'stepping down as Labour leader'

Well I think it's good news. The Labour Party has the best policies but Gordan Brown Isn't the right man to see them through. I hope we get someone smart with a nicer nature to replace him as leader.

 

[Swift Deere]

Re: Gordon Brown 'stepping down as Labour leader'

Theres some group on facebook i found today saying Gordon Brown is Bulbasaw lol

I just hope they sort this mess out soon and we have government hopefully one were the lib dems keep their filthy little hands off power!!!

 

[Battaman]

Re: Gordon Brown 'stepping down as Labour leader'

And then you need permission from the Queen, who apparently can have some criteria other than "this party got the most seats," and two parties can form an alliance to outdo the party that got the majority, and all sorts of nonsense that involves multiple parties actually cooperating. It makes my head hurt.

Well, here in Norway we have 7 big parties, although only 3 of them is really big. Right now we have a coalition between 3 parties, two of which only got 6% of the vote each, and the biggest one who got about 38,[something]%.

The king/queen permission is just bull, they just officially declares who won, they don't influence at all, dunno about other counties but our king can't even vote.

We look at it as better way of assuring that we have a real democracy, but your country is much larger than Norway and the UK (OK the UK is much larger than Norway as well, we don't even have half the population of London :shy, and your governors acts as local PMs, our "borgermestere" does about nothing of importance.

 

[polifroggy]

Re: Gordon Brown 'stepping down as Labour leader'

David Cameron is Prime Minister, as of minutes ago. He is now driving to No.10.

Also, Gordon Brown apparently reccomended Cameron to The Queen when he handed in his resignation.

 

[Takoto]

Re: Gordon Brown 'stepping down as Labour leader'

So we're now under a Conservative government?
I think, most to all of my life it's been Labour, so one might think I'd see this as a good chance.

But really I just want to punch David Cameron in his smug little face. I hate what the Tories stand for.
[/rage]

 

[Instrutilus]

Welp, Britain's screwed. We'll be seeing billions of pounds being spent in one night with nothing to show for it...a-f**king-gain. Ah well, I'm off to Scotland, they're basically independent by this point.

 

[Netto Azure]

David Cameron is UK's new prime minister

David Cameron confirmed as new prime minister by the Queen​

Conservative leader David Cameron is the new UK prime minister after the resignation of Gordon Brown.

Mr Cameron, 43, entered 10 Downing Street after travelling to Buckingham Palace to formally accept the Queen's request to form the next government.
He said he aimed to form a "proper and full coalition" with the Lib Dems to provide "strong, stable government".
His party won the most seats in the UK general election last week, but not an overall majority.
In a speech outside his new Downing Street home, Mr Cameron said he and Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg would "put aside party differences and work hard for the common good and the national interest".
He paid tribute to outgoing PM Gordon Brown for his long years of public service and said he would tackle Britain's "pressing problems" - the deficit, social problems and to "rebuild trust in our political system".
Mr Cameron stressed there would be "difficult decisions" but said he wanted to take people through them to reach "better times ahead".
He said he aimed to "help build a more responsible society here in Britain... Those who can should and those who can't, we will always help. I want to make sure that my government always looks after the elderly, the frail, the poorest in our country.
"We must take everyone through with us on some of the difficult decisions we have ahead."
"I came into politics because I love this country, I think it's best days still lie ahead and I believe deeply in public service.
"I think the service our country needs right now is to face up to our big challenges, to confront our problems, take difficult decisions, lead people through those decisions, so that together we can reach better times ahead."

We'll see how long this Tory-Lib Dem coalition lasts until the next election. It's just that the Tories aren't going for Proportional Representation. But alas even with a Labour-Lib Dem Coalition there was not enough votes. :/

I'm fine with this. Good Luck to the Conservatives, you guys have a lot of work getting the Economy back up again~

 

[TM2-Megatron]

It's hard to judge a government before anything's even been done. :-/

The UK's Conservatives aren't exactly Republicans in their stances, and nor would a lot of those policies fly in the UK any more than they would here in Canada. Cameron believes in the NHS, for instance, but wants it to be more efficient (which is a good goal for any health care system, whoever runs it).

Apparently it's a Tory/Lib-Dem coalition, so perhaps the Lib-Dems may balance off a few of the Conservatives' more right-wing policies. I can't imagine the Lib-Dems would've agreed to a coalition without certain considerations, anyway.

 

[Riku]

This is a great success for Britain, to have a coaliton between these 2 parties. As you said the Conservatives can bring all their expertise and economic know how, but any bad policies can be balanced out by the lib dems.

 

[hurristat]

I think a hung parliament (or not having the Labour party in charge) is good for Britain. While the specific politics might not be beneficial, the parliamentary system was designed to work the most efficiently when there is not a majority, but rather a plurality.