Voters head to polls for UK general election

Source: BBC

Millions of people across the UK have started casting their votes in the general election.

Polling stations up and down the country opened at 0700 BST and people will be able to cast their ballots until 2200 BST.

More than 44 million people are registered to vote. The first declarations are expected at 2300 BST.

As well as picking MPs for Westminster, voters will elect councillors in 164 local authorities across England. Voting in the general election will take place in 649 constituencies, with nearly 4,150 candidates standing for election across the country.


Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/election_2010/8663716.stm

... Cameron gets a minority government

Canada's Conservative Party has governed as a minority since 2006, in basically the same system - Wikipedia says they have 144 out of 308 seats. In Canada, the next 3 parties would need to all vote against the Tories to get a majority, and Harper has, by various wheezes, avoided that.

The Unionists in Northern Ireland are the most likely partners - the Ulster Unionists have already made a formal coalition with the Tories (but are unlikely to get more than a couple of seats, at most), and the Democratic Unionists (Paisley's old party) have indicated they'd be interested - probably only if they get Cameron to reverse his intention of cutting government funding for Northern Ireland.

I think a Lib Dem deal with the Tories is unlikely at a national level, because the Lib Dems really want voting reform, and the Tories have spent the election say that would be a disaster for the country. But the parties do form coalitions in city and county councils, so I suppose it's not impossible.

Some people think the Scottish and/or Welsh nationalists might be persuaded too. It seems unlikely to me - their policies are, on the whole, even further from the Tories than Labour's or the Lib Dems' are. But the Tories will occasionally vote with the SNP in the Scottish parliament (where the SNP is a minority government).

Their only standing MP stood down since she didnt want to be associated with the Conservatives. Their best bet for a seat (IMO) is south Antrim. I cant see them winning elsewhere.

Labour and the Conservatives have been sniffing around the DUP for their support. They are more than happy to sell their support to the highest bidder. The price - continuation of NIs 10billion grant so NI sees little to no cuts.

I'm afraid you're right about the minority government. I guess it's not quite as bad as a Tory majority, but it will still be a Tory government, which is horrifying. I would like to think that that would lead to an early election (though I know Cameron would hold on as long as possible) where people would vote differently, I doubt it would happen - UK voters are just as fucking stupid as their US counterparts.

I don't think you'll see any of the Nationalist forming coalitions with either major party. The SNP (who I used to work for in Edinburgh) have too much political capital invested in fighting Labour (even though their policies are far closer to Labour than they are the Torries) because they are fighting over many of the same voters. And on the national level all of the nationalist parties are not going to forget the hackjob Thatcher did on devolution or that their ultimate objective is to free themselves of the Union, not running it.

There is a chance of Liberal/Labour, but the price Mr. Clegg wants is probably too high for Mr. Brown. I'm still not very certain on who wins tonight, but my gut tells me the British will make the vapid Mr. Cameron the prime minister and that he wins a minority government and calls for elections in the next year.