Question about political parties in the UK

[sarahb083]

Hi, I moved to the UK about 5 years ago from the US, where we essentially have 2 political parties.

I'm left-leaning, and generally agree with the policies of labour, lib dem and the green party - I'd be reasonably happy with any of these parties in power. Post-referendum, the only real party on the right is the conservatives. It seems like the conservatives are in power because the right is united into one party, while centre-left & left are divided between three - though the combination of voters in the three make up more than conservative voters.

Is that correct? Is there more to it that I don't realise? Do left-leaning MN voters tactically vote for the biggest left-ish party?

Follow-up questions: hypothetically, could (and would) two or three of the left-leaning parties band together to create a coalition government?

It’s one of the ironies of politics that the left, which is supposed to champion collective action, tends to split into fragments due to the narcissicism of small differences, whereas the individualist right generally manages to come together in common purpose when the government of the country is at stake...

I think the complication you have missed is that the parties do move about quite a bit under different leaders. So Labour is much further left under Corbyn than under Blair, for example, and Cameron was a relatively moderate Conservative in many ways so the Tories have moved further right since his departure.

It's changing at the moment though. It's true that traditionally the right pulled together under adversity, but Brexit (sorry to mention it, but impossible to leave it out of this discussion) has changed that. Which I think is to the good for British politics, because it will ultimately weaken the right and make people think more. I'm excited about this election, I think there's the potential for a real shake up. I'm a committed leftie by the way currently a Lib-Dem member because of You Know What.

The left leaning parties could not create a coalition government after the general election, because a coalition government can only be formed when there is a hung parliament (no overall majority) and in that situation the incumbent government (Conservatives) gets the first chance at creating a coalition.

They could theoretically form a coalition before the GE but that is unlikely IMO.

@LucileDuplessis - that's interesting, I didn't realise the incumbent government gets the first chance.