Election 2010 - The results

The Election is now over (with the minor exception of Thirsk & Malton which has been delayed by 3 weeks although if that isn't won by the Conservatives I'll gladly eat my shoe) and the results are in. The final tallies for the major parties are as follows:

The Big Three

Conservatives are now the biggest party, with 306 seats and an increase of 3.7% of the elctorate. It is worth noting that The Conservatives do not have enough seats to have an absolute majority, there are currently talks underway between them and the Liberal Democrats to form a coalition Government.

Labour lost 6.2% of the electorate and now have a total of 258 seats. Whilst this is clearly a lost result (over 960,000 voters deserted Labour) Gordon Brown is still the Prime Minister and will stay on until a majority Government is formed. Interesting times.

Liberal Democrats oddly gained 1.0% of the votes but lost five seats and are now have 57 MPs. The Clegg mania boost never happened, proving we must take the polls with a pinch of salt although the exit polls were amazingly close. If this result doesn't show the problem with first past the post I don't know what does (for every additional seat the Conservatives won they had an extra 19,801 votes, going by the same figure the Lib Dems should have won an additional 43 seats!)

National Parties (Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland)

Scottish National Party had a slight increase in votes (up 0.14%), but ended with the same 6 seats as before. In Scotland the overall seats is exactly the same as in 2005, with Labour actually increasing their vote share, proving Scottish politics is a long way from politics in the rest of England and Wales.

Plaid Cymru lost nearly 9,000 votes in total, but managed to gain a seat and now have 3 MPs.

Democratic Unionist Party saw a small fall in votes throughout Northern Ireland, but the only one that mattered was leader Peter Robinson losing his seat to the Alliance Party. Was this a triumph for the anti-sectarian party or was it simply the prudish voters showing their dissatisfaction with the sex-scandal that rocked the party (involving Robinsons wife and her younger lover). This is the only seat lost that can be clearly linked to sleaze - the expenses scandal turned out to be a red herring.

Sinn Fein lost a few votes, but still have 5 seats (which they won't take up) in Parliament.

SDLP keep their 3 seats.


Ulster Unionist Party the support fell away completely with the only seat won in 2005 lost to the same MP, Dame Sylvia Hermon, who left the party following it's closer ties to the Conservatives.

Alliance finally entered mainstream politics, winning a seat in Belfast East.

Other Parties

Respect lost over half their votes from the 2005 election and their one seat. Don't expect Respect to come back from this electoral failure.

Green leader Caroline Lucas did win in Brighton Pavillion meaning there is a presence in Westminster for the environmental lobby. The overall proportion of votes actually fell nationwide, possibly in response to greater mention of green issues in the main three parties manifestos.

UK Independence Party increase of overal voting share by 0.8%, but no seats for the party.

British National Party also saw an increase wih nearly 2% of voters thinking their far right policies are relevant in modern Britain. I'm disgusted.

Socialist Labour Party vote collapsed.

Liberal vote collapsed.

Independents

There was an overall increase in votes for the independents and smaller parties, with 1.4% of votes not going to anyone mentioned above. Saying that these votes were extremely spread with only Sylvia Hermon getting enough to win a seat. Both Richard Taylor in Wyre Forest and Dai Davis in Bleanau Gwent lost their seats.