Question from an admittedly uninformed American.

[SteppingRazor]

I'm looking at the election results (Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/election2010/results/ ), and I just noticed:

Labour (256) + Lib Dem (56) + Scottish National Party (6) + Plaid Cymru (3) + Sinn Fein (4) + SDLP (3) =

328, a majority.

This would essentially by a left coalition. Could it work? Would the demands of the Lib Dems (proportional representation) and the nationalist parties (greater independence) be too high a price?

[Anarcho-Socialist]

1. Sinn Fein abstain from taking seats in Westminster

A rainbow coalition of Labour-Lib Dem-SNP-Plaid-SDLP-Alliance-Green is numerically possible but given all the competing agendas involved I would think Gordon Brown would have more success herding cats.

[SteppingRazor]

2. And would Alliance really want to enter into a coalition with a sectarian party from N.I.?

It seems to me that that would sort of go against their whole raison d'etre, no?

(Sorry if these are stupid questions. Like I said in the OP, I'm not well-versed in the British electoral system.)

[Anarcho-Socialist]

3. Alliance have been in coalition with "sectarian" parties from both sides

that being the norm in the Nothern Ireland Assembly. Given that neither of the prominent parties in Britain wish to challenge the constitutional settlement regarding the six counties, I don't think this would be a problem for Alliance.

[SteppingRazor]

4. I understand. Thanks!

Of course, I'm sure you're right about such an alliance being like herding cats. What do you think the odds are of the Lib Dems getting either Labour or the Tories to agree to proportional representation?

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. There seems little chance of getting the Tories to agree to it

even though 'it' is actually a referendum on PR, rather than the immediate introduction of it. Too many Tories are ideologically against it - they like "strong government" as a concept (they are a bit authoritarian, after all). Some Labour MPs have already said PR is acceptable to them, and I think others just tend to support the present system because they benefit from it, rather than the Tories' instinctive attachment to it.

Final numbers are most likely:
Con 307 (incl. Speaker)
Lab 258
LD 57
DUP 8
SNP 6
(SF 5 - will not sit)
PC 3
SDLP 3
Green 1
All. 1
Ind Un. 1

Lab+SDLP+LD=318; they'd need another 5. SNP would be simplest, in terms of being just 1 extra party, though PC+Green+Alliance would do it too. But in practice, I doubt the SNP or PC would agree to anything formal that cuts out the other, because they work together a lot, so it'd be Lab+SDLP+LD+SNP+PC. The Green and the Alliance MP would probably vote with them most of the time anyway.

Very hard to hold that together for a long time, I'd think. But it can't be ruled out. It would need an incentive for the SNP and Plaid Cymru.

[SteppingRazor]

8. Well, the incentive to both SNP and Plaid is similar, no?

Both of them want greater autonomy.

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. Or money (nt)

[mwooldri]

11. Or both :)

They don't want cuts in their respective countries... and they want more autonomy or even better still independence.

[oldironside]

7. Clegg will have more joy with Labour that the Tories.

The simple fact is that if we ever have a fair voting system there will never be another majority Tory government again. No British government has had a majority of the popular vote since 1945 (Thatcher never got more than 43%), and given the fragmented state of politics in the UK at the moment it ain't happening again in my lifetime.

Cameron can offer commissions and studies all he likes, but it's clear he will never agree to PR.

Brown, on the other hand, has already pointed out that Labour and LibDems have a great deal of common ground. Probably more appealing to anyone of a progressive bent is the notion that we will never have to suffer another Thatcher.

[mwooldri]

10. Alliance - no problem, though IIRC they are aligned with the Lib Dems

[FunkyLeprechaun]

5. There is no way Sinn Fein will form a coalition with Labour

They never take their places at Westminster anyway. (They refuse to take the oath of the Queen).