The Election

[Ouenben]

Shame there aren't more constituancies in Scotland, might have had a great chance at getting more non-Tory votes, given that only one in the whole of Scotland voted for them and it was those idiots at the boarder

[EJG1980]

How about the party with the most votes gets the government. A parliament where there is no clear majority is the best situation. No one can force through crap legislation, and the parties have to work to come up with ideas that take in to accounts all points of view. Might be a good thing.

For some reason whenever anyone suggests this politicians and political commentators laugh it off, as though the mere idea of people compromising and working together is clearly impossible. It's a shame that attitude exists imho.

[Rep]

Did anyone else see the "Land is Power" candidate standing behind Gordon Brown in his area last night? Highlight of the night for me. He stood the whole time with his fist clenched (Black Panther style) and punched the air when it was announced he got 59 votes or thereabouts! I was laughing so much I was scared I was going to wake the baby!

Same, that was pretty awesome, can see the fella here

[Spatial]

looking at that map I remain more convinced than ever that England should jettison scotland, NI & Wales, they are all revenue drains and distort the balance of an English only parliament massively.

If it's any consolation the three of them think the same about severing the massive English clinker hanging off them.

Seriously though devolution has started to make more and more sense over the years. Unfortunately the sheer cack handed way that it's been done, coupled with them being tied into political model which is clearly outdated and in desperate need for reform, means for the most part they're nothing bit expensive white elephants.

[egparadigm]

As a Lib Dem last night's result was very disappointing. I never thought we'd get more than 80 seats on an absolutely brilliant night, but to go down in seats and hardly anywhere in percentage terms is a bit of a blow after a great campaign.

The good news I'm consoling myself with is that Somerset went the right way. I am happy to say I now live in a Lib Dem constituency. All that leaflet delivering and activism paid off.

[spagmasterswift]

As a Lib Dem last night's result was very disappointing. I never thought we'd get more than 80 seats on an absolutely brilliant night, but to go down in seats and hardly anywhere in percentage terms is a bit of a blow after a great campaign.

Real shame, was also surprised Lib Dem did worse this year than before...and that Cons had my area before and held it 20K to Lib Dems 12K.

[Brad]

I'm Lib Dem. Still waiting for the stupid Cheltenham results to come in though. I have a feeling the Tories may have nicked the seat back :-(

[EJG1980]

Real shame, was also surprised Lib Dem did worse this year than before...and that Cons had my area before and held it 20K to Lib Dems 12K.

Same here, Conservatives increased their majority in my constituency from 8,910 up to 11,216 and the Lib Dems dropped back behind Labour into third place.

The BNP got 1,396 votes

[Brats]

Apparently the Lib Dem did increase their vote slightly (by 1&#37 but ended up with less seats. What a stupid system. I think any system where (in theory) a party could win 49% of the vote and win zero seats is garbage.

I think there are a lot of people who liked what the Lib Dems had to say, but when it came to voting they bottled it and voted for either Tory or Labour just to keep the other one out. I think the two main parties did an excellent job in the last week of convincing the electorate that a vote for the Lib Dems was a vote for the 'other' party and they were sadly squeezed out.

Which is even more of a reason for PR, as this tactical voting should disappear and people will just vote for the party they believe in.

[EJG1980]

Glad to see that Nick Clegg has come out and said that he believes that as the Conservatives have won the most seats and polled the most votes they should be the ones seeking to form a new government. Not that I want a Tory government but they did get more votes than anyone else.

He could have tried to band together with Labour and other smaller parties to keep Brown in power and possibly gained more influence that way, but I think it shows he's got a bit of integrity by clearly backing the Conservatives.

Should cause Brown to step aside really too, there's no way he can try and cling on without the backing of the Lib Dems.

[CMcK]

This term at Westminster is going to end up like the present term in Scotland with deals being done with smaller parties to push legislation through.
Thing is with some tough budgets coming up, and probably an emergency budget pretty soon, the wheeling and dealing required is going to hinder things significantly. If the Tories cannot pass a budget or major bill would they threaten to trigger another election?

[Brad]

Clegg hasn't said he'll support the Tories. He's put the onus on them to do the right thing. If the tories faff about he can call them out on that, say they are unfit to govern and then do a deal with Labour whilst still keeping his word. Not saying he'll do that as I reckon he's a decent bloke.

[Dirty Sanchez]

Yeah, only 59 seats in Scotland and there's 58 alone in the 'Eastern' part of England?!

59 seats in Scotland for a population of 5million.

58 seats in Eastern England for what population? I don't know but I'd guess it's around the same number.

650 seats or so for 65million people, a seat per 100k people.

[ChrisF]

I'm looking forward to our country being invaded and having some democracy forced upon us!

[Dirty Sanchez]

Fair enough that some dismiss the BNP but when you look at the total votes it's clear someone needs to step in to pick up the concerns of a large number of people.

Over half a million votes for BNP, twice as many as the Green Party, more than the SNP, more than Sein Fein and Plaid Cymru combined.

Under PR that would equate to 5 or 6 seats.