Depressed Lefty red eye - The morning after the night before

[Nymphadora]

Hello

scoutliam the ball is with the current PM - if he can't realistically form a govnt (which he won't without LD and other support) then he needs to go and tell the queen that. Then I guess HM would invite DC to have a go.

Seriously - I think the next 4 years are going to be hell and the unlucky party responsible for making cuts may well be putting themselves out of power for another 10 years.

In lots of ways I would rather have the Tories shoulder the blame for this parliament, with the liberals there to deflect some of the pain away from the poorest.

I was terrified of a Tory majority because I felt they would brutally cut services for the poorest and leave the richest untouched. I hope and pray that with a liberal coalition they would not get away with that.

Then a rejuvenated labour could prance back in 2014 and it would all be lovely again.

how much would referendum + new general election cost?

do we know if lawyers are starting up on any of the seats where people didn't get to vote

if there's going to be loads of lega action and ructions about the polling problems (and that place where they used an out of date electoral roll ) the anotehr election might be fairest thing to do

Sorry yes I am wrong in that there is no legal imperative.

catissleepy - I think the LibDems were actually the most hawkish in terms of deficit reduction, so there was never any hope of them protecting the public sector any better than the tories. They are pretty libertarian in their instincts.

Thank you Jenny

Progressive Left Alliance now standing at 330 someone pass me a phone I'll let them know it's sorted

The Conservatives NEED the Liberal Democrats. They cannot get enough without them, without the Scots falling into line, they cannot do it without Clegg. I would think that they would offer more.

"Young, I thought that Con had the right to have a minority leadership?"

He has a right to TRY - but if they can't get a Queen's Speech voted through parliament then it won't work. And clearly if there was a lib-lab pact then they would never get a Queen's Speech through.

I think if they failed to get a Queen's Speech voted through it would automatically trigger a vote of no confidence (which again, as a minority facing a lib-lab pact, they would lose) and that automatically triggers a general election.

So yes - he could try to have a minority gvt, but not in the face of a lib-lab pact.

Yes you would think so. But I guess this is Cameron's opening gambit - he's hoping to shape the parameters of the deal early.

maybe the conservatives are prepared to let it go to a second general election in the hope of rallying more support second time around?

Personally, I think Clegg will be v reluctant to do a deal with Brown - I mean, can you imagine someone less suited to collaborative govnt? He can't even manage that with his own party....
So I think that on a personal level Clegg will prefer to do business with Cameron. And that will count for a lot.

And tbh experience of the LibDems in local govnt shows that in practice they are more anti-Labour than they are anti-Tory. Onebat you are soo right.

In terms of cost of another election, someone on the Beeb was saying that while Labour did keep some money back for this eventuality, the Cons still have a sizeable war-chest for another fight.

I reckon Clegg will go for it with the Tories. And all we can possibly hope for is that some of the LDs manage to temper the worst of the horrors to come.

Well, I would imagine that the Lib Dems would do worse second time around - how many people voted for them on the basis that they were going to do well? AFter seeing the poor showing, maybe they will abandon that and go for someone else? Now that we have seen the results, and how VERY VERY close some seats were, things could be very different second time around,

nearlytoolate- i thought that the LDs were planning to hold off cuts til the recovery is well under way,like labour, whereas dave wants to start slashing right away

Thing is whether the liberals go with the tories or labour, that will sort of be the end of them as a separate force, just when they were making ground in that direction, as they will be forever linking in peoples minds to whichever one they choose.

I think GBs offer of referendum + new election is NCs best bet.

Ok, I'm rather frightened now. Was feeling a Lab/Lib coalition was the most likely outcome earlier, now I'm starting to think that Hameron and Clegg may join.

They'd be HamnEgg

I'm getting tired now, its all too much for my brain, lol.

@ Knotty. I couldn't resist a thread entitled simply "ham" in food.

Hello again, everyone. I've looked at BBC, Guardian and Times online and MN is much much more interesting and better informed. Can't we roll up our sleeves (ahem, sounds like DC) and sort it out for them? Do you think the Queen will tell them she's going to knock their silly heads together?

Philip Blond scares me: one of the very few very intelligent Tories...

Vince in, Osborne out. Maybe things aren't so bad.