What Exactly Is A Hung Parliament?

Nobody won last night - but what happens next?

What Exactly Is A Hung Parliament?

by Vicky Spratt |
Published on

If we’ve learned anything about politics in the last two years, it’s this: its path never does run smooth. From a Conservative win in 2015 to Brexit, we’ve learned to expect the unexpected. Theresa May’s team called an election ostensibly to cement support for her leadership as well as for her vision of Brexit. Jeremy Corbyn was an outsider that nobody took seriously, least of all the press, and the outcome of the snap campaigns was cast as a foregone conclusion.

An election which many described as ‘boring’ has returned a shock and unexpected result. When the results of the first exit poll were released it became clear that this election was far from the shoo-in that people had first thought it might be and the Conservatives had hoped it would be.

The BBC/ITV/SKY poll predicted a far closer result than the pre-election polls had, suggesting that the Conservatives might take the largest share of the overall vote but find themselves 12 seats short of a majority. The latest polls are suggesting that they may, in fact, win a few more seats but would still find themselves short of a majority.

Nick Clegg has lost his seat while Vince Cable is back and the Conservative MP for Ipswich, Ben Gummer, has also been outed by a Labour candidate. Labour have also won the seat of Canterbury which has been Conservative since the First World War, meanwhile, in Scotland Nicola Sturgeon's SNP have also suffered losses.

What does a hung parliament mean?

So…the million-dollar question…what does this mean? It means, simply, that we now have a hung parliament. A hung parliament is the result of an election where no party wins enough of the vote outright to form a Government. This can force a coalition (as we had in 2010) with one other large party or several smaller parties or a minority government. The last coalition, between the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives, did not end well for the Lib Dems. Tonight, the former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg lost his seat, Sheffield Hallam, to Labour cementing just how long the fallout of coalitions can last.

In the event of a hung parliament, who will be Prime Minister? Theresa May will be Prime Minister until it is decided who will form the new government. If the Conservatives do not win a majority, as predicted, it’s expected that there will be a conversation about who the next Conservative leader should be.

Does this mean that Jeremy Corbyn could be the next Prime Minister? Well, yes and no. If Theresa May resigned, which she would not be obliged to do, then Corbyn would be next in line to form a government if he could win the support of a majority. According to the Cabinet Manual, which sets out the main laws, rules and conventions affecting the conduct and operation of government Theresa May would only be expected to resign if she could not ‘command confidence and offer a clear alternative.’

The repercussions of a hung parliament could last for a while, in 2010 it took five days for the Conservatives and Lib Dems to agree on their coalition. However, it could take longer this time around because the general consensus is that Cameron and Clegg’s rose garden moment was rushed, papering over serious cracks in their alliance.

At the vote count in her constituency, Theresa May won, as expected, but she gave absolutely no indication that she would be prepared to do any deals. 'What the country needs now is a period of stability' before implying that she intends to form a government even if the Conservatives do not win a majority. However, you slice it, it looks like a deal is going to have to be done. Whether Theresa May will be willing or able to do that deal only time will tell. Over the next few days questions will also be asked about Theresa May's campaign, where it failed and, in particular, all eyes will be on youth turnout to see whether the under 35s surprised everyone by turning out and making their voices heard in this election.

However, this isn't all necessarily good news. There's talk of an alliance between the Conservatives and Ireland's DUP (Democratic Unionist Party), this Irish party is resolutely anti-abortion and have a poor record onLGBTQ issues.

Whoever forms the next government will oversee one of the most important periods in our country’s history so it’s not as though the stakes are particularly high…

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Follow Vicky on Twitter @Victoria_Spratt

This article originally appeared on The Debrief.

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