Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Tuesday, April 06, 2010

UK election

No surprises yet.

Gordon Brown calls 6 May general election

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has confirmed that the UK general election will be held on 6 May…

Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Conservative leader David Cameron, and Liberal Democratic party head Nick Clegg.

He said Britain was on the "road to recovery" and urged voters not to put it "at risk".

But David Cameron said the Conservative Party offered a "fresh start", while Lib Dem Nick Clegg said only his party offered "real change"…

It will... be the first campaign to feature live television debates between the three main party leaders. BBC, Sky and ITV announced the first 90-minute debates would be on ITV on Thursday 15 April, the next on Sky on 22 April and the last on the BBC on 29 April…

The three main parties - along with a host of other smaller parties - will be fighting for 650 seats, four more than currently exist because of constituency boundary changes…

To secure an overall majority, a party must win at least 326 seats. If no party succeeds in doing so, the result will be a hung Parliament.

After 13 years in power, Labour enters the election with a notional majority of 48 seats, meaning that a loss of 24 seats would see them lose their overall majority…

Parliament will not be officially dissolved until Monday 12 April - MPs will spend this week getting remaining legislation, that the parties can agree on, through Parliament - a process known as the "wash-up"…

Opinion polls timed to coincide with the announcement all suggest a Conservative lead over Labour, by differing margins.

An ICM survey for the Guardian indicates the Tory lead has dropped to just four points, with the Conservatives on 37%, Labour on 33% and the Lib Dems on 21%.

However a YouGov poll in the Sun and another by Opinium for the Daily Express suggest the Tories have opened up a 10% lead - the margin David Cameron is likely to need in order to win an outright majority on 6 May. The Sun has the Tories on 41%, Labour on 31% and the Lib Dems on 18%. The Express reports a 39/29/17 split.