A hung parliament - best for UK?

Charter 2010 takes no view as to the desirability or otherwise of a hung parliament. We simply want the politicians to plan for the possibility; and, if it materialises, to accept the voters’ verdict and negotiate responsibly for a multi-party supported government - not try to wangle their way into sole power if that is clearly what the electors have NOT voted for.

A remarkable ICM poll for The Guardian gives us some strong indications as to the voters’ preferences at the upcoming election.

ICM asked: "In the General Election, it is possible that no party will win an overall majority of seats in the House of Commons. Putting aside your own party preference, do you think it would be better for Britain if..?

# The Labour Party got a strong majority on its own

# The Conservative Party got a strong majority on its own

# There was a hung parliament, with the government having to work with smaller parties such as the Liberal Democrats

Overall, nearly half of those polled (44 per cent) said they preferred a hung parliament; fewer than one in five (18 per cent) preferred a Labour majority and just over a quarter (29 per cent) the Conservatives to win.

The strongest support for a hung parliament came from those married and with children (50 per cent), living in the North (48 per cent), women (47 per cent) and the under 65s (45-50 per cent).

So far as voting intention was concerned, not surprisingly, three quarters (74 per cent) of Liberal Democrat voters preferred a hung parliament. But an astonishing four in ten of Labour supporters preferred a hung parliament; as did over a quarter (26 per cent) of those who said they intended to vote Conservative.

On these figures, if the "Hung Parliament Party" were running in the election under our first-past-the-post system it would almost certainly win!

More seriously, the widely held assumptions of some politicians and journalists that Britain is by nature a country that prefers one-party rule and eschews coalitions are blown out of the water by this poll. Not for the first time, the people are ahead of the Westminster village.

Full details of the ICM poll can be found here.

via charter2010.co.uk

Posted via web from sunwalking's posterous