Hung parliament or not, it seems certain that the UK is in for a rocky ride over the next few months. Regardless of who emerges as the final victor when Britons go to the polls on 6 May 2010, what is inevitable is that they will be faced with tough choices.
The priority has to be fixing the massive UK budget deficit which according to The Economist is currently standing at a scary 11.6% of GDP. A focus on anything other than this gap which is the largest since World War II will likely lead to grim consequences. If any of the ratings agencies downgrade Britain, the results would be economically and socially disasterous.
The latest UK election polls show the Tories, led by David Cameron, as capturing a nominal lead over Gordon Brown‘s Labour party. Following an unexpectedly good performance in the prime-ministerial debate, Nick Clegg’s Liberal Democrat party is following closely behind. None of these three parties however have as yet provided any sort of clarity as to how they intend to employ public spending cuts and tax increases to address the budget deficit.
Given that the 2010 UK election is such a tightly contested one – in fact, the closest in the last two decades, the possibility of a hung parliament is a realistic one. This is a situation in which no political party wins an outright majority of seats. It would be a rare case in the UK as this does not often happen in countries with a combination of weak regional parties and a parliamentary election system based on single member districts.
So what if there is a hung parliament?
Besides the obvious level of uncertainty it creates, the timing would be less than perfect for the UK. The mood in the country is far from positive and having the UK bandied about in comparison with budget deficit disasters like Greece will not help increase optimism.
Interestingly enough, the financial markets don’t seem phased by the risk. Sterling is back in the low $1.50s after its brief adventure into $1.40s in March. Even British bond yields have decreased since the start of the year which shows some confidence in the country.
In practical terms, a hung parliament will usually force a dissolution of parliament, or the formation of a minority or coalition government. If it does happen, the UK can expect a period of behind-the-scenes party negotation in which an attempt to form a majority will take place. It will certainly not be first prize, especially given that Nick Clegg has backed out of his absolute precondition of making electoral reform a centrepiece of any hung parliament deal. The current system is unfair and the reform is much needed – Wonkie will join Caroline Lucas of the Green Party in her disappointment.
If you haven’t already, be sure to check out Wonkie’s Nick Griffin cartoon referred to in the cartoon above!
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ASIDE: If the UK election is not your cup of tea and you’re interested in another sort of contest you may want to consider a little online gambling action. Besides the internationally popular online casino India options, Wonkie has recently collated a list of special offers on ALL South African online casinos and some of the best online slots casinos in UK. Some of these even offer cash bonuses with no deposit needed. If you’re based in South Africa then be check out Silver Sands.
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The British electoral system is a bizarre throwback to an era when the Whigs and Tories were the only two shows in town, and first-past-the-post provided the simplest method of choosing between them. Things have moved on a little since then…and so we have the possibility of a hung parliament! Would that really be such a bad thing? Would a minority or coalition government really be a catastrophic threat to the UK’s economic well-being? A hung parliament this time around may very well lead to a change in the system and therefore the rules of engagement. It won’t always work…. Sometimes the differences of philosophy will be just too great….but does a system which delivers up to five years of ‘elective dictatorship‘ tell a story of unbridled success and stability?
I think not!…
a repeat labour, a hung parliament, a coalition govt…….no …no….
BETTER ,THE TORIES…
BLESSINGS ALL ROUND. – – – IT LOOKS LIKE GORDON AND HIS BOYS ARE GOING TO BE WELL HUNG OR HANGED. TAKE YOUR PICK.
Britain is lucky that they are able to change their ruling parties whenever they wish. If a party does not perform on promises they can be booted out at the next election. In South Africa we do not have this luxury. We have a party that believes it will be ruling until doomsday. This is not healthy and leads to corruption, mismanagement and total disregard for the wishes of the public. I would rather have a hung parliament than be hanged by the parliament.
If only some in our parliament would be hung……..!
Moxie is so right. I heard some time back from some ANC arsehole that the ANC will rule until ‘Jesus comes’. John Lennon denegrated Jesus and he was killed. I’m not a Christian, but I respect others and their religions. Britain has 5 oppositions. SA has only one, the ANC.
i most certainly agree with you guys…its realy one of those political ideologies that i so very much hate.ANC has no use these days but only leads the country to corruption.
Moxie
It’s not about what the ruling party believe, in africa it’s about what the sangoma’s bones said! Therefore, nowhere in africa a useless government gets voted out and if it does, like with zim, then the “leadazz” around do their best to keep an idiot like mugabe on his throne..because the bones spoke!
I mean, this ANC fools believe they rule – fact is they never ruled in the past and never will in future simply because they don’t have the brains to do so…they just do what they do best and that is to steal and if they are not stealing, they have joko-time and hope things will fall into place by itself and if things refuse to come right by itself, the taxpaying-voting-public gets blamed for not doing their job’s for them, like in the case of the police, etc. etc. etc. They make all the laws nobody ever thought of before, but the guy who must see to it that a law is kept, takes a bribe and that smart law is less than useless
Deena Naidoo
Maybe you should take note that not only did lennon come second with his big mouth, so also did the Titanic go down because of an english speakers big mouth! Maybe you should consider becoming a Christian…no other “faith’s” god ever was able to show his power like the Christian one! BTW that guy that start screaming everytime he see the moon may have told you that we all have the same god in mind is a liar…there is only One God and that is the One Christians worship and there is none other than HIM.
avu
This ANC fools never had any other purpose but to corrupt – it never was the intention for them to rule as they never had the ability to do so and like Ian Smith said, won’t have it in the next 1000 years!
As far as the english speakers are concerned, we Afrikaner Boere called them souties because they are so well hung ;)….strange they don’t have a clause in some law that the queen should make her choice between the two to solve the problem 😀
Dirk
I do not agree with you. God was the God of the Israelites long before He became the God of the Christians. He is also known as Allah by the Muslims, which means that we all worship the same God, which is difficult to believe if you consider all the animosity and hatred displayed by his very stupid children.:) * * *