Okay... HUNG parliaments!

[MarsLady]

How hung is hung?

What would happen and how would it work? I don't do politics (but I do vote. Too many people died for me to be able to vote, so I vote).

If I don't come back to this too quickly it's because I'm studying hard.

There's a couple of threads on this already here and here HTH

PS could also be like a horse....

Total number of seats = 650.

So if one party gets 326 seats or more, they can control all the legislation without relying on the votes of another party.

A hung parliament is where no party gets 326 seats (in practice, a bit less, because Sinn Fein don't take their seat, plus a bit of faffing around with the Speaker etc)

If there is a hung parliament, there are two options: a formal coalition, or a minority government.

A minority government would try to cobble together 326 votes for each piece of legislation on an issue by issue basis. If at any point they couldn't get 326 votes for a Queen's Speech, Budget, or Vote of Confidence then we would have another election.

A coalition is where two or more parties, adding up in total to more than 326 seats, agree a joint programme of government, compromising on various aspects of their own policies to do so.

Thank you longfingernails. Succintly put (which works for me late at night).

Will check out the other threads.

That's the mechanics of hung Parliaments - hopefully completely factual and nothing contentious there!

In terms of whether they are a good idea or not - I think it would be a disaster.

It leads to the smaller parties having a disproportionate say. It leads to instability. No difficult decisions would get made because the other party in a coalition wouldn't agree, for electoral purposes. Everyone is always interested in the short term.

Historically, hung parliaments have almost always been a disaster in this country - and in many (not all, but many) countries round the world.

Not to mention - I instinctively distrust "consensus". If people aren't fighting for what they really believe in, really arguing and scrutinizing, legislation will be far weaker as a result. Consensus is massively overrated in my opinion.