London, May 06: Britain is set to go to the polls on Thursday to elect its 55th parliament amid a sobering last-minute warning for the new govt to tackle the nation’s rising public debt level — highest in Europe — as its first priority.
With prospects of a hung Parliament looming large, leaders are exploring alliances hours before polling opens on Thursday.
Phrases associated with Indian elections such as ‘tactical voting’, ‘coalition partners’ and ‘common minimum programme’ increasingly figure in the election discourse as strategists make behind-the-scene moves to explore possibilities in the event of a hung verdict.
The emergence of the Liberal Democrats as a third major pole in this election upset the cosy consensus between Labour and Conservatives, with Liberal Democrats leader Nick Clegg widely seen as a king-maker in the post-election sweepstakes.
Leaders of all three parties — Clegg, Brown (Labour) and David Cameron (Conservative) — criss-crossed the country at a frenetic pace, seeking to attain the magic figure of 326 in a House of Commons with the strength of 650.
In 2005, the Labour had won a majority by securing 349 seats, while the Conservatives bagged 210 and the Liberal Democrats 62. However, latest opinion polls left Labour and the Tories neck and neck on which of the two would have more MPs, with Lib Dem support falling back.
With just hours to go before voting begins, a daily ComRes poll showed party support had remained static, with the Tories on 37 per cent, Labour on 29 per cent and the Lib Dems on 26 per cent.
This would make the Tories the largest party but short of a majority.
Labour strategists still hope that due to the first-past-the-post electoral system, the party may still win the most seats even if it polled the least number of votes.
However, the rising popularity of Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats after the first of the three television debates is expected to cut into the Labour party’s votes, which may help the Conservatives.
—Agencies