So what happens now ?

So Labour have 'lost' but the Tories haven't won with a clear majority.

So what happens now ?
Will Brown continue to cling to power with a pact with the LibDems ?

How can Cameron form an alliance with the LibDems whose policies are so radically different from their own ?

And why should the LibDems hold the balance of power when they have performed so disappointingly themselves ?

It's a b*gger's muddle ! Talk of queues of voters turned away from the polling booths because of a 'shortage of voting slips.'

I reckon we're going to have to do it all again.

[Colemanator]

My guess is that Brown will form one with Clegg and there will be another election in October.
the whole system is a joke.

Agree that the system is a joke, but it's unlikely that the two losers will be allowed to unite and form a government.

I rather suspect that Brown will see the game's up now and resign, and Cameron will be invited to form a government with no overall majority, each bill having to be voted on individually.

Depending on how this goes, Cameron may have to go to the people again later in the year.

This is exactly what happened when Harold Wilson took over from Heath in the 1960s: Heath resigned, Wilson presided without a majority to begin with, then called a snap election and won, this time with an overall majority (of something like 3, I seem to recall).

The Lib Dems would damage their prospects at any future General Election by becoming bed-partners with Labour now.

[Colemanator]

Libs have said 'no dice' to Brown. He must resign ;D

[barbelman]

I suspect that Wonder Boy will sell his party down the toilet and make a deal with greasy Dave even though the two parties are miles apart and detest each other. Remember that the Dem bit of the LibDems was formed from Labour party members and they should negotiate with Labour for a major role in a coalition with even Clegg as leader. Brown HAS to go as premier, as he is so disliked, and he could then concentrate on being Chancellor (which he was brilliant at)

If Clegg does make an alliance with the Tories then it will be so unstable that it will be unsustainable - they are just too far apart politically to work together.

If we do get PR out of whatever alliance is formed then we will have this situation at EVERY general election in the future and we will have the odious National Front (sic) in the House of Commons.

cheers
Tony

[specialone]

Ignoring the politics and just looking at the maths, this situation is becoming increasingly likely, and agree with Barbelman that PR makes matters worse. If you look at the 60,s, a good result for the Liberals was 12 seats and a bad one was 6 seats. A vote for the Ulster unionist was a vote for the tories and there was no Social Democratic party. Having said all that, the 60's could still produce a hung parliment. Now we have Libdems aiming at 100+ seats, ok they fell short, Scottish and Welsh nationalists and the Greens are now on the scene. Good point made by Tommo about Libdems holding balance of power despite poor showing. You also have the possibility of nationalist MP'S taking the view that we need cuts but not on our patch if you want our support in a hung parliment.

The strange thing is that lots of people thought it was good that we were moving away from the two party system, but most do not want a hung parliment. Be careful what you wish for.
Shaun

U turn from Clegg (remember he said that Cons had won the election and had moral right to form a government) and now a Lib-Lab pact is mooted.

Like saying the leading horse didn't win by sufficient lengths, so the prize will be shared by the second and third horses.

Brown clings to power, Mugabe-like. Let me stay on till the autumn as PM, then I'll resign. (Hoping for a further general election, you people keep voting till you get it right !)

As gran would say:

[Colemanator]

What a mess :(
surely we can't have a coalition of losers ???

.................headed up by an unelected leader. No change there, then. >:(

There will be a public outcry against a Lib/Lab government, and the Queen will have to take the unprecedented step of calling them all together and inviting Mr Cameron to form a minority government.

Either that or an immediate re-election as our vote on here seems to favour. ;)

Well after all that, a surprise outcome which nobody on here predicted.

But we were all more or less right with what we said couldn't happen.

We will just have to wait and see how 'democratic' the new Tory/Liberal Democrat Coalition government turns out to be............