And so after what many have called the dullest election campaign in living memory, the British electorate have returned David Cameron to parliament as Prime Minister.
Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats faced a humiliating response from the public, losing seats all over the country.
With 543 of 650 seats declared by 7 a.m. the Conservatives had 248 against Labour's 212. The SNP surged taking the nearly 58 seats predicted in the exit poll which was published soon after the polling stations closed on Thursday. By 8 a.m. with 603 of the 650 seats declared a Conservative victory looked certain with the Tories taking 297 against Labor's 219.
But the night was a bigger victory for the SNP. And with 55 seats in parliament it was perhaps more than the SNP's Nicola Sturgeon could have dreamed of.
For other parties it was more a nightmare. The Liberal Democrats had taken on 7 seats by early morning, less even than exit polls had predicted.
Even UKIP failed to reach its goal of double figures and while there were still some undeclared results to come the party had only 1 seat in parliament as this article was published.
So all in all, a terrible night for Labour, a worse night for Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats, and a disappointing result for UKIP, though Farage will no doubt claim victory in terms of the number of votes his party took and criticise the first past the post election system.
At the time of publication only Cameron and Miliband had aired their feelings concerning the result. And there was certainly no word from former Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown who said he would "publicly eat his hat" if predictions about the Lib Dems taking as little as 10 seats were right. "If this exit poll is right, Andrew, I will publically eat my hat," Lord Ashdown said [BBC].
"This has clearly been a very disappointing and difficult night for the Labour party," Ed Miliband posted on Twitter, "To every member and supporter, I want to say thank you."
Meanwhile, David Cameron, spoke of a "brighter future for everyone"
"One nation, one United Kingdom - that is how I hope to govern if I am fortunate enough to continue as Prime Minister," he proclaimed.
Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats faced a humiliating response from the public, losing seats all over the country.
With 543 of 650 seats declared by 7 a.m. the Conservatives had 248 against Labour's 212. The SNP surged taking the nearly 58 seats predicted in the exit poll which was published soon after the polling stations closed on Thursday. By 8 a.m. with 603 of the 650 seats declared a Conservative victory looked certain with the Tories taking 297 against Labor's 219.
But the night was a bigger victory for the SNP. And with 55 seats in parliament it was perhaps more than the SNP's Nicola Sturgeon could have dreamed of.
For other parties it was more a nightmare. The Liberal Democrats had taken on 7 seats by early morning, less even than exit polls had predicted.
Even UKIP failed to reach its goal of double figures and while there were still some undeclared results to come the party had only 1 seat in parliament as this article was published.
So all in all, a terrible night for Labour, a worse night for Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats, and a disappointing result for UKIP, though Farage will no doubt claim victory in terms of the number of votes his party took and criticise the first past the post election system.
At the time of publication only Cameron and Miliband had aired their feelings concerning the result. And there was certainly no word from former Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown who said he would "publicly eat his hat" if predictions about the Lib Dems taking as little as 10 seats were right. "If this exit poll is right, Andrew, I will publically eat my hat," Lord Ashdown said [BBC].
"This has clearly been a very disappointing and difficult night for the Labour party," Ed Miliband posted on Twitter, "To every member and supporter, I want to say thank you."
Meanwhile, David Cameron, spoke of a "brighter future for everyone"
"One nation, one United Kingdom - that is how I hope to govern if I am fortunate enough to continue as Prime Minister," he proclaimed.
No comments:
Post a Comment