THE UNITED Kingdom is set for a hung parliament, according to exit polls, with the Conservatives the largest party in the House of Commons, but just shy of a majority.
In an effort to control the debate on who should form the next government, Conservative leader David Cameron said: “This is a decisive rejection of Labour. We can govern with this result.”
The exit polls, an ITV and a combined BBC/Sky effort, put the Conservatives on 305 seats, 19 short of the number needed for a majority and Labour on either 255, or 256 seats, depending on which poll you accepted.
Most significantly, however, the figures delivered a blow to Gordon Brown’s hopes of forming a Labour/Liberal Democrat alliance because, even combined, they would not have a majority.
Most surprisingly, the polls put the Liberal Democrats on 61 seats, despite leader Nick Clegg’s highly regarded campaign performance.
However, the polls did not take into account postal votes – one-in-five of the total – which were cast when the Liberals’ popularity was at its height. Nor does it acknowledge the geographical concentration of Liberal support in some areas.
The first result was declared in Houghton and Sunderland South at 10.52pm, even earlier than hoped for, and was won by Labour candidate Bridget Philipson (26) with 19,137 votes – down 10 per cent on the party’s showing there in 2005.
Within minutes of the exit poll, Labour’s Peter Mandelson, one of the key architects of his party’s campaign, said the election showed that there had to be electoral reform and that the first-past-the-post system was on its last legs.
Indicating that Mr Brown had no intention of resigning on the back of the result, Lord Mandelson pointed to the possibility of an alliance with the Liberal Democrats, saying it was clear “voters don’t want a pure Labour government”.
He went on: “The constitutional conventions are very clear. You know the rules. The rules are if it’s a hung parliament it’s not the party with the largest number of seats that has the first go. It’s the sitting government,” he said.
His cabinet colleague Harriet Harman adopted a similar position, downplaying the Conservatives’ bid to declare themselves the winners: “There doesn’t appear to be a massive endorsement of the Conservatives.”
Home Secretary Alan Johnson immediately upped Labour’s offer of electoral reform to the Liberal Democrats, saying the parties should work out a deal on Alternative Vote Plus – which would require MPs to have 50 per cent of the vote, along with a regional candidates list.
However, leading Conservative Michael Gove said Mr Brown would be unable “in the era of 24-hour news” to stay in power for days, trying to form a government, as Conservative Edward Heath attempted to do for four days in 1974.
Initial figures suggested that the Conservatives enjoyed a 5.1 per cent swing in their favour on the 2005 result, though Labour did better in constituencies where outgoing MPs ran again.
Voters turned out in record numbers, in excess of 70 per cent. Polls closed at 10pm and counting began immediately afterwards. However, the queues were so long in a number of cities that voters were turned away at 10pm when the stations closed.
Despite weeks of debate, there was significant evidence that many voters decided their preferences as they filled in their ballot paper, and, indeed, changed preferences previously made.
Facing some of the toughest economic times in decades, up to 350 of the 649 MPs that will be elected by late this afternoon – one election has been delayed because of the death of a candidate – will be the most inexperienced in recent times.