The Greens The Big Winners in Britain

by Charles Lemos, Fri May 07, 2010 at 07:18:26 AM EDT

Despite winning just one seat, it seems the British Green Party might be the big winner in the UK general election. Perhaps that's a stretch but they, at least, have something to celebrate as the Green Party in Britain elected its first MP from a constituency in Brighton Pavilion. The victory in Brighton ends Britain's status as the only major European country never to elect a Green MP. 

Otherwise for Britain's other parties, the May 6th general election likely left them wanting. The 2010 general election has resulted in a hung parliament with the Conservatives winning the most seats with 294 overall, but that's still short of the 326 needed for a majority. Labour won 251, while the Liberal Democrats fared poorly winning just 52 seats. Six other minor regional parties have between them 26 seats in the new Parliament. It was bad night for independents as well with just one independent MP retaining her seat. With just 28 races remaining undecided, mathematically no party can secure a majority in its own right. A coalition government now looms in Britain for the first time since the 1970s.

As the dust settles, this election is likely to leave the three major parties on the dissatisfied side. Despite gaining at least 93 seats for the Conservatives, Tory leader David Cameron failed to secure a governing majority for his party; Prime Minister Gordon Brown leading Labour into a general election for the first time saw 88 seats vanish under his hapless watch; while Nick Clegg, despite a robust performance in Britain's first ever debates, saw his Liberal Democrats actually lose five seats including a high profile one in Wales.

The Guardian has more on what happens next but constitutionally speaking Gordon Brown remains Prime Minister until another party can prove that it has the confidence of Parliament by mustering sufficient votes to ensure passage of legislation.

Tags: UK General Election, British Labour Party, British Conservative Party, British Liberal Democrats (all tags)

Comments

9 Comments

4a2fab88-ed3b-47a4-8f14-3ec8a24504ac_normal
Hung hung hung

Here's my projections on the remaining seats:

Lab-260

Con-306

LD-56

DUP-8

SNP-6

SF-5

PC-3

SDLP-3

PC-3

G-1

A-1

Figure out how to get to 326 with that, anyway other than Con-LD, and you get a prize. Problem is, there are a lot of LD's that will revolt at the idea. Still, probably 20 will hold out and do it to get the electoral reform. Perhaps though, there is a possibility that it goes to another election instead?  The Lib Dems hold the sway but don't have much swagger. No matter what though, they will be the ultimate winner of this election with reform-- certain to gain next GE.

Con-36 percent

Lab-29 percent

LD-23 percent

That's a margin that would have looked good to the LD's a month ago, really dissapointing right now, but so it goes. They need better candidates. Hopefully they can translate the youth support into a long term plan.

by Jerome Armstrong 2010-05-07 08:59AM | 0 recs
4a2fab88-ed3b-47a4-8f14-3ec8a24504ac_normal
Brighton

A Green shade in deed; I think they have the council there too. The electoral reform will help the Greens too. Unfortunately, it will also lead to UKIP and BNP getting in Parliament-- its gonna get a lot more crazy. They had 5% of the vote compared with 1% for the Greens.

by Jerome Armstrong 2010-05-07 09:02AM | 0 recs
Shadow_head_small
RE: Brighton

Some observations:

1.  The rot for the LibDems started with Clegg's apparent willingness to form a coalition with the Tories.

2.  Could the UK benefit from the 5% hurdle, similar to Germany?

3.  The election wasn't a swing to the right.  Budget cuts are going to be very painful and unpopular.

 

by esconded 2010-05-07 09:54AM | 0 recs
4a2fab88-ed3b-47a4-8f14-3ec8a24504ac_normal
RE: Brighton

I think there was a real strong disconnect all along, between liking the Lib Dems & Clegg, but the local Lib Dem candidate not being a great candidate. Clegg and the Lib Dems were solid all the way up to the end with the polling.

Yea, a hurdle would be good. I think Israel should have something like that too.

by Jerome Armstrong 2010-05-07 12:13PM | 0 recs
4a2fab88-ed3b-47a4-8f14-3ec8a24504ac_normal
Scotland

1 Conservative seat, only 17% of the vote; will they will stick around in the UK for a Torie term is a question mark.

by Jerome Armstrong 2010-05-07 09:06AM | 0 recs
Shadow_head_small
mind-blowing to have all 3 parties disappointed

but that's where we are. LibDems saw their vote share go up only 1 percent and their number of seats drop.

Labour suffered its lowest share of the vote in a long time and would be short of a majority even in coalition with LibDems.

Conservatives failed to win an outright majority despite Brown's unpopularity. In a minority government scenario, Tories will have to implement some very unpopular economic/budget policies and then face the voters again in a year or two.

by desmoinesdem 2010-05-07 09:18AM | 0 recs
Shadow_head_small
process note

Someone on BBC pointed out that the Queen goes first to the prime minister to ask if he can form a government. If he says no, then the Queen asks the leader of the opposition. So even though the Tories have far more seats, Brown/Labour will get first crack at forming a government.

Sounds like the Conservatives are not interested in a coalition with the LibDems.

by desmoinesdem 2010-05-07 10:29AM | 0 recs
Shadow_head_small
desmoinesdem, I think Clegg short-circuited that already......

It might very well be that the Queen goes first to Brown at least as a formality, but it might be only a formality.  Clegg says point blank that the Tories deserve first crack at forming a government, and Brown says he'll "respect" that.

I imagine what happens is that Clegg and Cameron cut a deal behind closed doors, and then they go through the formality of the Queen going to Brown, getting a "no," then going to Cameron and being told "yes I have a coalition set."  It's probably a formality in the same way as our Electoral College meeting and voting in a President is a formality.

by DCCyclone 2010-05-07 11:02AM | 0 recs
4a2fab88-ed3b-47a4-8f14-3ec8a24504ac_normal
Final

Tories won two of the last Labour seats by about 300-400 votes each, sucks, but LD's picked up one more:

Con-308

Lab-258

LD-57

DUP-8

SNP-6

SF-5

PC-3

SDLP-3

G-1

A-1

O-1

by Jerome Armstrong 2010-05-07 12:16PM | 0 recs

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