After what has been probably one of the most interesting general elections in over a decade, offering the British public a genuine choice with the main parties fielding two vastly different candidates in Theresa May and Jeremy Corybn, the public turned up at the polls in their droves to cast their votes to decide which party will lead the country in some very uncertain times. The result itself is perhaps a sign of the times, showing just how divided the country is on a range of key issues.
The exit polls had predicted a hung parliament before the counting had begun, although the polls have been unreliable with their predictions over the last few elections, to the point where many people probably expected the opposite of what the polls predict to be a more likely outcome. The exit polls may have had some faith restored after correctly predicting the outcome.
But what does a hung parliament actually mean?
In essence a hung parliament is when no party manages to win a clear majority in the House of Commons.
The Conservatives need 326 seats or more to have a clear majority, but they have fallen short and Labour have also fallen short of the required number to form a single party government. So what this means is that one of the parties (typically the one with the most seats, although in rare circumstances it’s possible for the second place party to form a “minority government”) in this case it looks like the Tories will collab with DUP (Democratic Unionist Party) in order to give them the required amount of seats to have a majority in parliament.
The majority is looking like a very slight one however, so even though Corbz didn’t win, he gained significant ground and will make it difficult for The Conservatives to push through any unwanted legislation. But why don’t Labour and The Conservatives just team up? Since Labour have the second most seats? Well the whole point of one party having a clear majority is so they can get their ideas and policies through the Commons without too much difficulty, but if they team up with someone like Labour who have vastly different goals for the country, it will be a stalemate as both parties will just constantly block the other ones endeavours in the House of Commons.
So the idea is you collab with someone just strong enough to give you a majority but not strong enough to block your policies in the Commons, the DUP currently only have 10 seats which will give the Tories 329 or 328 if they don’t win Kensington.
The youth turnout made a huge difference in this election, something which will hopefully galvanize young people to go out and vote in the future, rather than believing that “doesn’t matter if we don’t vote nothings gonna change anyway”. 63% of 18-24 year olds voted for labour while 27% voted for The Conservatives, while 59% of over 55s voted for the Tories and 23% voted Labour.
We’ve made it abundantly clear that the political class cannot go on ignoring us and long may it continue!