Decision day for Britain

Thursday, 6 May 2010

• Voters leave a polling station in West Belfast, Northern Ireland, Thursda
• Image Credit: AP

London: With the prospects of a hung parliament looming, the leaders of the three main parties no doubt lost sleep before the last full day of campaigning in the run-up to voting today.

Conservative leader David Cameron campaigned through the night and Prime Minister Gordon Brown made an early visit yesterday morning to market workers in northern England.

The leaders made a final push for votes, as two polls pointed to an inconclusive result.

One poll indicated that Labour could still win the greatest number of seats.

A YouGov poll for the Sun suggested the centre-right Conservatives' support was unchanged on 35 per cent, while centre-left Labour rose to 30 per cent.

The Liberal Democrats, who had enjoyed a strong rise in recent weeks, fell four points to 24 per cent.

A ComRes poll for the Independent newspaper put support for the parties unchanged, with the Conservatives eight points ahead of Labour, making Cameron's party the largest in a 650-seat parliament, but denying him outright control.

Both polls suggest a hung parliament, in which the centrist Liberal Democrats could hold the balance of power.

Britain has not had an inconclusive election result of this kind since 1974 and is not used to the kind of coalition-building familiar to many European countries.

But for some voters a coalition government is favourable. John Holmes, age 100, said from his home in Conservative-held Wimbledon, South London, it "would be a good thing if they [the three main parties] could find something to agree about".

Economic woes

Two mass-circulation newspapers said a hung parliament would make it harder to solve Britain's economic woes, backing the Conservatives for their commitment to cut the deficit faster than Labour would.

The economic situation was highlighted under the shadow of Westminster yesterday, when hundreds of students marched with raised banners and shouted anti-Labour chants in protest at the government cuts in higher education.

Joined by their lecturers, the students shouted out that the economic crisis was not theirs to handle or to suffer from.

There are four likely outcomes for the election. The Conservatives could win an absolute majority (least likely); the Conservatives could form a minority government — more seats and votes than Labour but not a majority; the Conservatives could make a deal with the Liberal Democrats in case of a hung parliament; or Labour could win with Liberal Democrat backing.

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg has said he would consider negotiating with Labour, but only if Brown steps down.

— With inputs from agencies