What is a Hung Parliament?

We have all by now heard (unless you live in Outer Mongolia) that we have a Hung Parliament. What does all this actually mean? Set out below is an explanation. What exactly is going to happen in the next few days is anyone’s guess, but it will cause a lot of uncertainty.

A hung Parliament is created if no party wins an outright majority. In this election that would require one party to win 326 seats out of 650 with the Tories predicted to win only 309 at the current count. If the Tories do not form a minority government, two parties must form a coalition to govern in order to create an overall majority of MPs.

The government will not be able to win votes to pass laws without the support of members of other parties. Smaller parties could join forces to outvote the government which would make it difficult to pass laws.

The bigger parties can try to persuade smaller parties to support them, either each time there is a vote, or by creating a coalition government with an absolute majority.

The largest party - in this case the Conservatives - does not automatically have the right to try and form an administration. That right falls to Gordon Brown as the incumbent Prime Minister.

 

What does it mean?

There is no formal deadline for when an administration must be formed but a key date is 25 May, when the Queen's Speech is due to set out the government's priorities during the Parliament.

Negotiations to form a government in a hung Parliament could take between a week and 10 days.

If no agreement can be reached between parties and no government was unable to command enough support to get the Queen's Speech through Parliament there would be a need for a second election.

Some economists fear that a hung Parliament could affect Britain's economic recovery if the financial markets lose faith in a British government's ability to be decisive. This could impact upon the country's credit rating. David Cameron has previously warned that a hung Parliament can lead to politicians being able to endlessly "haggle and bicker and scheme" delaying decision-making and leading to paralysis.

 

What happens next?

If Gordon Brown remains prime minister he could try and form a coalition with the Liberal Democrats in order to amass a greater number of seats than the Tory party.

If Gordon Brown resigns then the Queen may invite David Cameron to form a government. He could seek to form a minority government and make arrangements with individual parties to pass individual bills through the Commons. However, if he decides to form a coalition he could also try and form an alliance with the Liberal Democrats to create a majority. He may have hoped to have enough seats through his electoral alliance with the Ulster Unionist Party but current electoral arithmetic indicates that they have not got enough seats to create a majority.

Nick Clegg could be in a position to decide which of the main parties he is willing to work with.