What is a hung parliament?

Question

And what will it mean?

I'm 18 & a first time voter. I've seen a few references to a 'hung parliament', specifically "voting Lib Dem would NOT mean a lib dem govt, it would just mean a labour - lib dem hung parliament". What does this mean and why would it mean a lib/lab government?

As simply as possible please, I don't know any political jargon! Thanks :)

Answer 1

It does *not* mean that a party needs 50% of the votes to win. A party wins the election if they get more than 50% of the seats, rather than 50% of the votes.



It is perfectly possible for a party to win this election having won the largest number of seats but not the largest number of votes.



If the Lib Dems win the largest number of votes, they probably will not win the election because the electoral system systematically discriminates against the Lib Dems. At the present time, the electoral system is most friendly to Labour, it is disadvantageous to the Conservatives and very disadvantageous to the Lib Dems.



If the Lib Dems' support increases by a few percentage points, it probably creates a further advantage to Labour. If the Lib Dems support increases a great deal, it might start working in favour of the Conservatives. Either way, it is almost impossible for the Lib Dems to actually win an overall majority.



The simplest definition of a hung parliament is that it is one where no party manages to achieve the magic figure of 326 seats.



In the event of a hung parliament, Gordon Brown will remain Prime Minister until someone can form a government. There are then various possibilities, such as:



1. Labour or the Conservatives govern in a "minority government" (meaning that their measures could be continually rejected by parliament).

2. Something similar to the "Lib-Lab pact" of the 1970s (there is a minority government but the Lib Dems promise to allow the government to govern).

3. A two-way coalition between Conservative and Lib Dems, Labour and Lib Dems or even Conservative and Labour.

4. A three-way coalition.

5. A coalition which includes the other parties in parliament e.g. the Northern Ireland Unionists could support the Conservatives or the Welsh and Scottish Nationalists might support Labour.

6. Nothing works, the Queen dissolves parliament and we have another General election.

Answer 2

It means that no party has more than half of the MPs.



For example if the Conservatives had 300 MPs, Labour 270 and the Lib Dems 80.



This would mean that if the Conservatives didn't have the backing of at least one other party, any law that they proposed could potentially be out voted by the combined Lib Dem and Labour MPs.



What normally happens in places where there is not normally a majority party is that a coalition is formed. This is where two or more parties agree to work together in a formal agreement. This would also mean that you essentially had a government made up of two or more parties.



For example in this scenario, Labour and the Lib Dems could work together and would be able to form the Government as they would have more MPs. The largest party would almost certainly have the Prime Minister, so Gordon Brown would still be Prime Minister, but would mean that there would also be Lib Dems in the cabinet, so it could mean a Lib Dem Chancellor for example.



This can work very well, for example as it is in Wales at the moment where Labour are in coalition with Plaid Cymru and previously have been with the Lib Dems.



Sometimes no coalition will be formed and instead the largest party will form a government anyway. This is called a 'minority government', which is what is currently in power in Scotland and previously in Wales.



This means that to pass any laws, there has to be agreement from at least one other party. This can be good as it requires more consensus and stops stupid ideas being forced through.



The risk with this is that it means the Government cannot pass everything it wants, and it can be easy for the opposition parties to try and bring the Government down.

Answer 3

A hung parliament is when at the end of an election, no party has a clear majority over the others, and so have to argue it out with the other parties who's going to team up with who to try and form a government.



Usually isn't a good thing if you look at other countries who've had these....... usually nothing gets done for months, everything goes down the pan....... one of the parties decides they don't wanna play any more, so splits from the coalition government....... which then means the other party(s) in the government have to argue it out again to try form another government with each other, or call another election and try again (causing more issues to drag on when they need sorting urgently).



A report out earlier today suggests a hung parliament at this election would cause £20billion less money being generated in the economy by 2020 compared to if the Conservatives get a majority this election:

http://conservativehome.blogs.com/thinktankcentral/2010/04/a-tory-victory-will-add-20bn-to-national-income.html

Answer 4

A hung parliament is when no party has a majority of 326 MPs, which is likely to mean two or more parties joining together in a coalition government.



The Liberal Democrats need a much higher percentage of the popular vote to win, due to our flawed election system, so the most likely outcome is a hung parliament, and the most likely coalition to emerge is Labour and the Lib Dems.

Answer 5

A hung parliament is where no party has more than 50% of the MP's in Parliament. The Conservative Party are saying that a vote for the Lib-dems is a vote for a hng parliament because their majority is very narrow.

Answer 6

In the UK it means no political party has gained enough seats (mp’s) to be able to outvote the other political parties.



“The term used to describe the situation where no single political party has a majority of MPs in the House of Commons. If this happens, two or more parties may decide that they have enough in common to form a coalition Government. Alternatively another general election may be held in the hope that it delivers a more decisive result.”

Answer 7

It means that no one party has won a majority of the seats.



So if parliament had 100 seats, and one party won 40, another won 45, and another 15, that would be a hung parliament.



Most European parliaments are like this and they have coalition governments with more than one party ruling.

Answer 8

A hung parliament is the place no occasion can benefit maximum folk of seats contained in the decrease abode of Parliament, commonplace as abode of Representatives contained in the federal Parliament. This became into noted those days contained in the Tasmania state elections and additionally in South Australia in 2002 whilst the ALP fell one seat short to make up a central authority contained in the Legislative suggestions. the consequence in Tasmania became into that the ALP conceded that they won't make up a central authority, and the Liberal occasion became into sworn in as a minority government. In South Australia, after a lot negotiation 2 self sustaining MPs - Peter Lewis and Bob Such - desperate to area with the ALP, which meant that they now had the extra desirable form of seats. whether, this additionally meant that Such and Lewis had the "stability of ability" - each and each piece of legislations presented by utilising the ALP became into concern to approval by utilising the two independents, which placed them in a stable place to barter a miles better consequence for his or her electorate. contained in relation to the 2010 federal election, there are numerous opportunities. the likely consequence is that the vegetables will area with the ALP, leaving the 4 different self sustaining MPs to barter with the two the ALP and Liberal events to make certain who might make the better government (or which occasion might have a miles better deal for the electorate they characterize). in the event that they fail to attain this, this is then as much as the Governor-ordinary to call yet another election.

Answer 9

its basically when their is not enough MP's from one political party for their to be a government.



- Vote Conservative -