David Cameron Unlikely To Win Election: Economic Chaos Likely In Britain And Europe


With just two days to go before the UK election, all indications are that David Cameron and his Conservative Party cannot win a majority. Cameron became Prime Minister in May 2010, but only after political opponent Nick Clegg and his Liberal Democrats agreed to a formal coalition with Cameron’s party, allowing him to form a majority Government. As election day grows closer, it appears that this election will be even tighter than the last. Polls indicate that each of the two main parties, David Cameron’s Conservatives and Ed Miliband’s Labour party, are locked together on 33 percent.

Prime Minister Cameron faced a difficult task in 2010, as the world economy was still reeling from the financial collapse in 2008 and the UK was in its deepest ever recession. Cameron was facing challenges that would have tried even the most popular of Prime Ministers, and Cameron is not popular. His personal popularity rating lies consistently around 35 percent. Yesterday the Daily Mail reported that Cameron had admitted to his deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, that he did not think he could win the election.

In such circumstance, one would be forgiven for thinking that Ed Miliband would be set for a landslide victory on Thursday. Not so. Miliband is just as unpopular as Cameron, and many blame the Labour Party for the economic mess the country faced in 2010. Miliband is no more trusted than Cameron by the electorate.

Scotland has traditionally been safe ground for the Labour Party, with the party enjoying almost total dominance. Trust in the party evaporated after last year’s Scottish independence referendum, when Miliband and Cameron worked together to ensure a vote against independence. Since then, the Scottish Nationalists have enjoyed a surge in popularity which some suggest could mean they win every seat in Scotland.

Such a swing away from Labour means that they could not win a parliamentary majority either. According to the Independent no party can win a majority and as a result the UK will be faced with weeks, or even months of uncertainty. It seems likely that the only two-party coalition that might be possible would be between Labour and the Scottish Nationalists, but Miliband has ruled that possibility out.

Cameron is unlikely to be able to win a majority even if the Liberal Democrats were willing to support them, and that is far from certain.

Gus O’Donnell, the former Cabinet Secretary, told The Independent “it could be weeks” before a new government is formed and what that new government might look like is anything but clear.

“It could be multi-party, it could be mixtures of coalitions and deals, and the deals may be written or unwritten, there are all sorts of possibilities. I suspect all parties involved will definitely take more time to consult.”

HITC reports that the right wing of the Conservative Party is lying in wait to bring David Cameron down should he fail to secure a majority. Many on the right of Cameron’s party are determined to take the UK out of the European Union, and with Cameron under threat should he fail to secure a majority, it seems likely that the uncertainty will spread across an already economically fragile Europe.

David Cameron is at the center of the most confused UK election ever, the outcome seems to be anyone’s guess. No-one is prepared to predict whether or not the UK will have a government on Friday, but it is certain that David Cameron, Ed Miliband and all the other party leaders will be in for a complex round of political horse-trading.

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