news just in...definitely hung parliament...no chance of conservative majority

[Heathcliffscathy]

according to the bbc

I find it interesting that lib dems basically came third but look like they may have the final say

I'm all for some kind of reform How its workable I dont know but other countries manage it

right sorry I was confused there (sorry tired)

we are talking about one vote if we had a PR system, at present we don't, we have local and national elections so two votes

right???

JSWilly, (tell me if I've got this wrong anyone) but, aren't local elections to vote for local councillors who vote on local government decisions, and national elections are to vote for your local party member who you would like to be a Member of Parliament and have a seat in the House of Commons to vote on the passing of new laws?

JetSet, the two votes have nothing to do with each other. The local government council is independent of Westminster, they look after local issues such as rubbish collection, granting building planning, permission, etc.

Local elections are not your mp they are for the local council.
National votes are for your mp who will stand in parliament representing your area. The party with the most mps wins normally.

At risk of seeming very naive, why can't all the parties work together? Have a cabinet made of people from each party, and have people doing each job who are best at it? Surely thats what the country have voted for?

It would then mean that each issue would be discussed fully and people would be putting their energy into solving problems, rather than jostling for power and prestige?

Isn't the best thing about mumsnet, the way you can read a thread with one view, and maybe finish is with another?

Raw you're not far off how I think it would be best. Not quite sure how to work it but the people vote onthe position (presumably the top ones) individually so you can vote for chancellor, pm etc.
I can see how its not really doable but hey I can dream
We need a mn party then we could cover all views but still have the sensible factor

Ah yes - that would be my dream RawChocolate

right goodness i think i'm getting there, thanks

so can your local representative ever be the same as your national MP?

sorry I sound so dim, I'm embarrassed I have to ask such basic questions (after voting as well! not that it would have changed my vote) but I guess the only way you can find out.. thanks

GB now giving his speech

jetsetwilly- in national government your representative is your mp. This is who you have just voted for.
Local government is what you would call your council is what you vote for in local elections. As someone said they deal with rubbish collections, planning permission etc.

JSWilly, I didn't understand any of this stuff either til I looked it all up on the net (just said something similar on the PR thread). They should start teaching it in schools. How are we supposed to make informed votes if we don't understand how the whole thing works?

JetSetwilly - they are different people, doing different jobs.

You vote for your local Member of Parliament (they represent you at National level and local level - if they are doing the job properly)

You also vote for local Councillers
(they represent you in your local ward, on local/personal issues)

An area or two also have votes for the local Mayor (local Mayoral duties - representing you locally and abroad)

Any of these may be aligned to a Party or be Independent

Thus in your local area you may, for example, have a Conservative Mayor, three Green Councellers and a Labour Member of Parliament

Can. Not. Spell. Today.

Gahh

possibly a national government with those with the best credentials from all parties . cabinet posts divided between parties on the basis of there number of seats or percentage of votes cast . this govenment working for the good of the whole country putting party interests a side to see us through a very difficult financial era . utopia but it has done be during the great depression of 31 to 40

Mumofeightplusfour, that sounds great. Can we pass this on to the MP's? Actually, I am going to send this idea to my MP.

so what do we think is going to happen after daves speech?

If Nick Clegg joins forces with cameron he will lose all credibility.As the tories will never entertain his 10k tax abolition.trident,europe,PR,student fees etc What is teh bloody point

Minority governments are not all bad. the Scottish Parliament has been good at getting consensus decisions through, anything too extreme just doesn't get past the various poltical parties ( SNP does not work in coalition but has to convince the others that their budget and other proposals are workable on a case by case basis. A lot of grandstanding does still happen but on the whole it is less confrontational than Westminster. Maybe it is time for a change after all?

Brown makes for a very pathetic figure today - no doubt Mandelson is already plotting his demise (and Labour could do a lot for itself by booting the pair of them out.)

How depressing that up here Labour have continued their stranglehold. Still, as I said when they kept the Glasgow North seat (Michael Martin's seat, he didn't live in the area by the way, far too poor and down heel for his type) in some areas Labour could have a monkey as their candidate and would still win. All that "I've voted Labour all my life.." guff.

Yeah, don't forget, Labour stuck the boot in single mothers, made us out to be the lowest of the low. Really socially cohesive aren't they.

works both ways twoifbysea, round here you could stick a blue rosette on a donkey's arse and it'd be elected. (In fact that's pretty close to what happened in the next door constituency - Tory woman who stole £££££s from us in the expenses scandal hung on to the seat.)

Hi everyone, at last my old politics degree comes in handy! We had a paper on British Politics and Government... So here goes:

When an election is held but no party has a clear majority (i.e. they can pass their legislation with all their own MPs votes even if all the other party's MPs vote against them) the (unwritten) constitution provides for it. As the BBC seem to be explaining quite well, the PM stays put (a country must have someone in power to keep things going pro tem) and they negotiate. Senior civil servants can assist and the PM will go to the Queen and tell her what they have decided. She will then formally invite the new PM person to form a government. If they cannot agree then she can call another election. But another election immediately will be the last resort for very practical reasons: a)they are bloody expensive! b)one called very soon is likely to result in another hung parliament and c)it annoys voters and hence is not good for democracy.

So they need to make do and work something out, make it work (or not) for at least 3 or 4 months and may be as long as 10, and things will have moved on and another election can be called in which we will be interested! (Also they may provide enough staff and ballot papers...).

I was a poll clerk yesterday in Lembit Opiks constituency and we had ballot papers for all 500 on our list if necessary. To be honest the current finincial difficulties make it ideal for the parties to cut a deal and work together for a while so that one of them isn't tarnished by association with the measures they will have to put in place (Churchill did something of this sort when he appointed his War Cabinet of course). but the Tory grandees are starting to rumble now and David Cameron may not be free to do what he thinks is best.... Interesting times.