UK : David Cameron on road to 10 Downing Street?

M.today

London, May 7: Counting of votes in the general elections in Britain is currently underway and results for about half of the 650 seats are now in. It’s clear that Britain will have a hung Parliament with David Cameron’s Conservative Party set to be the single largest party.

 

 

Though the Conservatives have made huge gains, they will be short of a majority. They have made those gains at the cost of Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s Labour Party, which has posted major losses.
 
But Labour has not given up just yet. It is still talking about the possibility of putting together coalition government with the Liberal Democrats, who are nowhere near the 90 seats they were expected to pick up.

The Conservatives are being projected to be 21 seats short of a majority. They need 326 to win.

If they do manage to win the projected number of seats, that is 305, the Conservatives would improve their tally from last time by 95 seats.

Incumbent Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s Labour Party is projected to get 255 seats, that is 94 down from the last time, while Nick Klegg’s Liberal Democrats are projected to win 61 seats, that’s one seat down from the last elections.

If the exit poll projections prove to be correct, the next Prime Minister of Britain will have a lot of negotiating to do.

David Cameron would lead the largest party in the House of Commons, but he would have to run the government with the support of minor parties. 

Gordon Brown has said he would take "full responsibility" for Labour’s performance. He even appears to have considered a future beyond Downing Street, saying he might do charity or voluntary work if he felt he could no longer make a difference as a politician.

Meanwhile, as the verdict is awaited, there are reports of what commentators are calling a vote scandal.

Hundreds of voters who had queued up to vote were turned away as polling stations in some constituencies closed sharp at the scheduled time.

But there are also allegations that some of these polling stations were closed because they ran out of ballot papers.

So the Electoral Commission has announced a "thorough review" in constituencies where people were unable to vote.

 

First Time, An Indian-Origin Woman Enters The House Of Commons

 

Voters in Witham made history by sending the first female Conservative Asian MP to parliament.

Priti Patel will represent the newly formed constituency after taking 24,448 votes.

The Liberal Democrats took second place, with Margaret Phelps receiving 9,252 votes, followed by Labour man John Spademan with 8,656.

Mrs Patel, who was hotly tipped to take the seat, considered to be a Tory stronghold, said: "I would like to thank all the candidates, it has been a tremendous campaign.

"Everyone has fought a very clean campaign which shows our parliamentary democracy in a good light."

Priti lives in the heart of the new constituency, in Witham with her husband and one and half year old son. She was born in London and was educated at a comprehensive secondary school in Watford and finished her formal education at the University of Essex.

Priti’s home and early life has played a large part in forming her political beliefs. Her parents, have run a number of small businesses around the South East and the East of England and her family has always lived and worked by the strong traditions of self-help, the importance of family life and support of the local community.