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The UK has a first-past-the-post system designed explicitly to stop coalitions. For the next few weeks the winning party will negotiate with the other parties

The UK has a first-past-the-post system designed explicitly to stop coalitions. For the next few weeks the winning party will negotiate with the other parties and try to create a coalition. If that fails they can either try a minority government or a new election will be called. This time around a coalition will be hard, the third party (Lib Dems) went into a coalition with the Tories in 2010. It almost destroyed them as a party so they won't do it again.

keithpeter 9y ago
DUP + Tories could manage a minority government given Sinn Fein's refusal to take up their 7 Westminster seats. I think the voting reflects the general uncertainty about the Brexit process, plus some of the under 30s actually getting out of bed this time... http://www2.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2017/06/09/welcome-to-the-new-politics-where-the-young-ones-actually-turn-out-to-vote/ http://www2.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2017/06/... I actually saw queues outside polling stations yesterday.
- mathw 9y ago
  I'm a bit wary about the idea of a DUP + Tory agreement, because the DUP must know that the Tory position on Brexit is a huge threat to the stability and peace in Northern Ireland, and a hard border with the Irish Republic would be disastrous.
  - lhopki01 9y ago
    The DUP want a hard border with the Irish Republic. They specifically don't want any special status for Northern Ireland as they're afraid it would bring Ireland and Northern Ireland closer together.
    - davidgerard 9y ago
      They've said the opposite - do they still behave like they actually do?
- collyw 9y ago
  Maye the under 30's got out of bed because they saw someone worth voting for (for a change).
taejo 9y ago
I think avoiding coalitions was a side effect rather than a design principle: doesn't FPTP predate political parties in the Commons?
vacri 9y ago
> The UK has a first-past-the-post system designed explicitly to stop coalitions. That's a terrible reason for FPTP. As soon as you have a third party, you run the risk of coalitions. What's so bad about coalitions anyway? Germany is run by coalitions and it's a world economic power.
- lhopki01 9y ago
  Nothing is wrong with coalitions but they are demonised in the UK as weak and unstable. FPTP is an ancient system from before the time of parties and needs to be reformed.
- matthewmacleod 9y ago
  There can be a sense with coalition government that people are removed from the decisions made behind closed doors - politicians trading off with each other. I don't accept that myself, but it's ecactly what happens to the Liberal Democrats in 2010 - they entered a coalition, agreed to policies that their voter base didn't accept and paid heavily for the sense of betrayal it fostered.

keithpeter 9y ago

DUP + Tories could manage a minority government given Sinn Fein's refusal to take up their 7 Westminster seats. I think the voting reflects the general uncertainty about the Brexit process, plus some of the under 30s actually getting out of bed this time... http://www2.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2017/06/09/welcome-to-the-new-politics-where-the-young-ones-actually-turn-out-to-vote/ http://www2.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2017/06/... I actually saw queues outside polling stations yesterday.

mathw 9y ago
I'm a bit wary about the idea of a DUP + Tory agreement, because the DUP must know that the Tory position on Brexit is a huge threat to the stability and peace in Northern Ireland, and a hard border with the Irish Republic would be disastrous.
- lhopki01 9y ago
  The DUP want a hard border with the Irish Republic. They specifically don't want any special status for Northern Ireland as they're afraid it would bring Ireland and Northern Ireland closer together.
  - davidgerard 9y ago
    They've said the opposite - do they still behave like they actually do?
collyw 9y ago
Maye the under 30's got out of bed because they saw someone worth voting for (for a change).

taejo 9y ago

I think avoiding coalitions was a side effect rather than a design principle: doesn't FPTP predate political parties in the Commons?

vacri 9y ago

> The UK has a first-past-the-post system designed explicitly to stop coalitions. That's a terrible reason for FPTP. As soon as you have a third party, you run the risk of coalitions. What's so bad about coalitions anyway? Germany is run by coalitions and it's a world economic power.

lhopki01 9y ago
Nothing is wrong with coalitions but they are demonised in the UK as weak and unstable. FPTP is an ancient system from before the time of parties and needs to be reformed.
matthewmacleod 9y ago
There can be a sense with coalition government that people are removed from the decisions made behind closed doors - politicians trading off with each other. I don't accept that myself, but it's ecactly what happens to the Liberal Democrats in 2010 - they entered a coalition, agreed to policies that their voter base didn't accept and paid heavily for the sense of betrayal it fostered.