Election Discussion

[claire_louise]

Does this mean no one is prime minister? I am very confused! I actually really got into it all and watched the live debates and stuff (don't ask why) but now I am just majorly confused.

Gordon Brown will stay as PM until they decide what to do. Basically David Cameron has to try to persuade the Liberals to work with the Conservatives so that together they have enough seats to out-number the others. It will take a while for them to negotiate a deal, then Gordon Brown will resign and the Queen will ask whoever is decided to be the best person (probably David Cameron) to be the new PM.

[Laura]

All so confusing. Think I'm one of the very few who wanted Labour to win.

[Zetti]

I think Cameron will end up as the new PM. However I really dont like him. All his changes involve more money coming from our pockets, and its hard enough at the moment trying to get everything we need. We have to be so tight with money, Conservatives in power IMO is gonna be a disaster.

[KirstyEkua]

I am horrified at the prospect of a Tory government. I am no fan of Gordon Brown either but i feel he's the lesser of two evils, and at the end of the day he seems to have better policies and ideas for the future, especially when it comes to getting out of the recession.

Cameron's government is just going to make life harder for those of us in the middle. Does no one remember what happned during Thatcher's rule? He is no different..

[Zetti]

^^ Me too. I am still confused as to why some people want a Tory/Lib Dem coalition esp when Lib Dems are not IMO right to govern even with Tories

[charmed60]

I agree to Kirsty! Having a change in government when were only just coming out of a financial crisis is in my opinion a really bad idea, particularly when that government leader looks set to be a man who doesn't look after the lower classes in this country! Seeing as so many people were unable to vote I don't think the result of the election is a true reflection at all of what the public really want so I wonder whether a re-election is the best way to go. I really don't think a Lib/Con merge is a good idea either, there are going to be a lot of things they'll disagree on and it will all end up falling apart, we need a stable government and decision maker. Liberal Democrats and Conservatives both represent two totally different ideas, it's crazy.

As much as I don't like Gordon Brown I think we'd have been better off staying with Labour as well. He's guided us through this recession, he knows what position our country is in and what needs to be done better than any of the others. Someone taking over midway through this crisis is a really bad idea imo. Plus when you consider that a lot of people voted Lib Dem as a tactical means of keeping the Tory government out, I wonder if they'd have known Clegg would go against what he originally said then they would have voted Labour? I'd be interested to see what a re-election would result in.

[Slade]

Most people don't vote so I'm not sure how representative elections are of public opinion anyway. The Lib Dems will probably go into an alliance with the Conservatives (What do they have to lose?) but then again can't really see them agreeing to sanction anything through parliament. So another General election (next year maybe) would be the way to go. That way enough time would have passed for some people to have reassessed their views. Either way Brown is finished...

[charmed60]

Most people don't vote so I'm not sure how representative elections are of public opinion anyway.

Very true! But the difference is the people who don't vote probably don't care who gets in. There were hundreds of people who actually did care that weren't able to due to long ques and running out of ballot papers so the whole thing is a shambles...I agree there needs to be another general election. A merged government is never going to work.

[claire_louise]

Most people don't vote so I'm not sure how representative elections are of public opinion anyway.

Well 60% is actually 'most' people...but I agree it's not great.

But the difference is the people who don't vote probably don't care who gets in.

And that's what I find really frustrating, that people can be so ignorant that they don't even care how their own country is being run. If something happened that directly affected them they'd soon change their minds!

I think this situation could actually turn out to be a good thing. We shouldn't write them off (and by 'them' I mean the whole lot) before they've been given a chance to sort themselves out. I really do think the country needs some sort of change, but we'll have to wait and see whether it ends up for the best or not!

[Jess]

Does this mean no one is prime minister? I am very confused! I actually really got into it all and watched the live debates and stuff (don't ask why) but now I am just majorly confused.

Gordon Brown will stay as PM until they decide what to do. Basically David Cameron has to try to persuade the Liberals to work with the Conservatives so that together they have enough seats to out-number the others. It will take a while for them to negotiate a deal, then Gordon Brown will resign and the Queen will ask whoever is decided to be the best person (probably David Cameron) to be the new PM.

I personally think it'll be the other way around. It seems to me that Nick Clegg pretty much holds all the power at the moment. I know that a LibLab coalition still wouldn't equal a majority, but I basically think he'd side with either of them. It wasn't until the televised debates that the Lib Dems really came into the spotlight and, as such, I think a lot of people are in the dark as to what they actually stand for (I'd be willing to bet that the vast majority of the votes came from the middle and lower classes (although I didn't think we really had a class system in Britain any more? ) who are sick of Brown, but who feel disillusioned by the Tories), so I think Clegg'd be more willing to compromise on policy in order to get into Westminster.

I think Cameron will end up as the new PM. However I really dont like him. All his changes involve more money coming from our pockets, and its hard enough at the moment trying to get everything we need. We have to be so tight with money, Conservatives in power IMO is gonna be a disaster.

How else do we pull the country out of the recession, realistically? We can't go on spending like we did under Labour - before they came into power, we actually had a budget surplus! It's hard to believe that Gordon Brown was the longest serving Chancellor of the Exchequer...