Klimkiewicz 1

Allie Klimkiewicz
Small
AP Comparative Government
20 March 2015
Elections since 2010 in the United Kingdom
With the exception of by-elections, the last (general) election in the United
Kingdom took place in 2010. Due to the 2010 coalition agreement, the next general
election for the United Kingdom is to take place May 7th 2015 (United). The 2010
election was a landmark election for the UK such that the current coalition government
was formed. The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats compose the current coalition
government, which is the first full coalition since 1945. David Cameron is the 52nd prime
minister and Nick Clegg is his deputy (Robinson).
Following his capture of the Prime Minister position in 2010, David Cameron
said, "This is going to be hard and difficult work. A coalition will throw up all sorts of
challenges. But I believe that together we can provide that strong and stable government
that our country needs (Robinson)". The election of 2010 was only the second general
election since WWII to return a hung parliament (Back). The main reason for the
coalition government was that the Conservative party did not earn a majority of seats in
the House of Commons. They formed with the Liberal Democrats rather than another
party due to their ideological platforms being the most similar (in contrast to the Labour
party). Since 2010 the coalition government formed after the 2010 general election has
remained in power, however has been criticized for only presenting 11 new bills to be
enacted during the coalitions remaining time in power (Wintour).

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The next United Kingdom general election to vote upon the 56th Parliament is to
be held on May 7th 2015. There are a total of 650 seats in the House of Commons up for
grabs with 326 seats needed for a majority. In the House of Commons Nick Clegg leads
the Liberal Democrats, Ed Miliband leads Labour, and David Cameron leads the
Conservatives. In the House of Common, it is expected that Labour are going to win seats
from the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats are going to lose seats to the
Conservatives and Labour parties, and the Labour party is going to lose seats to the
Scottish National Party. How dramatic the change in seats is following this pattern will
determine who wins the upcoming election. The main duel will be between the Labour
Party and the Conservatives (Lambert). Current polls show the Labour party with a small
lead gap over the Conservatives, however it is an extremely small gap and has fluctuated
greatly oftentimes closing the gap the past few months. Labours Miliband says his main
priority if he wins the May election is the protection of the public services, especially the
National Health Service. Nevertheless, the Labour party seems to be on the brink of
collapse in Scotland due to the rise of the Scottish National Party. If it werent for the
large extent of loss in Scotland, the Labour party would have most likely gained a gap
over the Conservative party by now. In addition the Liberal Democrats look to be losing
seats left and right, evenly distributing their seats to both the Conservative and Labour
parties (Lambert).
It looks as though whoever wins the upcoming election, if there even is a winner,
will win by only the slightest of margins. If either Cameron or Miliband loses the
election, they will most likely end their political careers. Even so, winning for either
candidate will provide just as difficult challenges due to small margins leading to the

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weakening of the Prime Minister position. If the Labour party wins the election but
fails to get a majority, they will most likely try to form a minority government then seek a
majority in a second election. Reaching a coalition deal with the Liberal Democrats
would be extremely difficult if not impossible due to such great ideological differences. If
the Conservatives dont win a majority, Cameron will have to decide whether to try a
minority government or form another coalition. Forming yet another coalition might be
more difficult to get past his party (Forsyth). Regardless of who wins, it sure will be a
close race.

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Works Cited
"Back in Time." Worldbookonline. World Book, n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2015.
Lambert, Harry. "Latest Ashcroft Polls Back-up National Polls: Labour to Dethrone
around 35 Tory MPs." May2015. Newstatesman, 17 Mar. 2015. Web. 17 Mar.
2015.
Forsyth, James. "Welcome to the Election Race That Everyone Will Lose." The Spectator.
Wordpress, 07 Jan. 2015. Web. 18 Mar. 2015.
"General Election 2015 Poll Tracker: Labour and Conservatives Neck-and-neck." The
Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 16 Mar. 2015. Web. 18 Mar. 2015.
Robinson, Nick. "How the Coalition Government Was Formed." The Telegraph.
Telegraph Media Group, 29 July 2010. Web. 16 Mar. 2015.
"United Kingdom General Election, 2010." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 16 Feb.
2015. Web. 16 Mar. 2015.
Wintour, Patrick. "David Cameron and Nick Clegg Lead Coalition into Power." The
Guardian. Guardian News, 11 May 2010. Web. 16 Mar. 2015.