It’s ‘Judgment Day’ for the UK
NARROW MARGIN: DATA SUGGESTS SLIM TORY WIN
Support has soared for SNP, which will back Labour, and could give Miliband upper hand in postpoll horse-trading.
Britons voted yesterday in a knife-edge general election that could put their country’s membership of the European Union in question and raise the likelihood of independence for Scotland.
Voters faced a choice between a government led by Prime Minister David Cameron’s centre-right Conservatives or by Ed Miliband’s centre-left Labour in the closest vote in decades.
Capturing the tense mood, The Times had a front page with the words “Judgment Day” emblazoned over a picture of the sun setting behind Big Ben, calling it the “most important election for a generation”.
While the leaders of both main parties insist they can win a clear majority in the 650-seat House of Commons, they will almost certainly have to work with smaller parties to form a government. Who will team up with whom is the big question.
The last three polls on Wednesday showed a dead heat between the two main parties. Polling stations closed at 10pm local time. Most results emerged overnight, although the final tally of seats will not become clear until this afternoon.
If neither the Conservatives nor Labour win a clear majority, they will start negotiations with smaller parties to try and build a bloc of around 326 seats.
Latest poll data suggested the Tories were on course to win most seats by a narrow margin, with between 274 and 289, but could be hampered in forming a government by opposition from Labour and the Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP), which wants Scotland to become independent.
Support for the SNP, which has said it would support Labour, has soared, potentially giving Miliband the upper hand in post-election horse-trading. The centrist Liberal Democrats, junior partners in Cameron’s coalition government set-up in 2010, will also have a key role in negotiations and are open to working with either of the two main parties. –