The events surrounding the formation of the United Kingdom's government in 2010 took place between 7 May and 12 May 2010, following the 2010 general election, which failed to produce an overall majority for either of the country's two main political parties. The election, held on 6 May, resulted in the first hung parliament in the UK in 36 years, sparking a series of negotiations which would form the first coalition government since the Second World War.
The governing Labour administration led by Gordon Brown was defeated in the election and lost its overall majority after 13 years in office, but continued in office in an acting capacity until a government could be formed. The opposition Conservative Party led by David Cameron, won the largest number of seats in the new Parliament, but fell short of the number required to secure an overall majority. Consequently, senior figures from both parties embarked on a series of meetings with representatives from the Liberal Democrats led by Nick Clegg, aimed at forming a coalition government.
As leader of the third largest party, Clegg had announced that the Liberal Democrats would enter talks with whichever party held the greater number of seats. A series of meetings with the Conservatives began shortly after the hung parliament was announced, and continued over the weekend after the election. Negotiations were also held with the Labour Party. The Scottish National Party signalled its willingness to join Labour and the Liberal Democrats and other minor parties in government as part of a progressive rainbow coalition, but it quickly became clear that Gordon Brown's continued presence as Prime Minister was seen as a major obstacle to formulating a Labour–Liberal Democrat deal.
Although Brown relinquished his role as Labour leader on 10 May, the party failed to reach an agreement with the Liberal Democrats; the latter instead struck a deal with the Conservatives the following day. Brown resigned as Prime Minister and Labour Leader on the evening of 11 May, and the Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition government led by David Cameron took office shortly thereafter. The Liberal Democrats emerged from a meeting of their Parliamentary party and Federal Executive to announce that the coalition deal had been "approved overwhelmingly" shortly after midnight on 12 May, and later the same day the two parties published the Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition agreement setting out the terms of their deal. While Cameron became Prime Minister, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg was appointed as Deputy Prime Minister.
Background.
The Labour Party came into government under the leadership of Tony Blair in May 1997 following the electoral wipeout of the Conservative government, led by John Major; this ended 18 years of Conservative rule. Having secured a landslide victory with 418 seats in the House of Commons, the party had a working majority of 179 seats, and went on to win the 2001 and 2005 elections. During its first term in office Blair's government introduced many popular policies, including legislation to establish a national minimum wage, reducing the length of hospital waiting lists, and devolving lawmaking powers to Scotland and Wales. Blair also played a key role in the Northern Ireland peace process. His decision to commit British troops to the 2003 invasion of Iraq turned public opinion against him and lost him the support of some of his own MPs. When Blair stepped down as Prime Minister in June 2007, he was succeeded by his Chancellor, Gordon Brown. Blair's decade-long premiership had been a time of economic boom for the United Kingdom, but Brown's tenure as Prime Minister was dominated by the global recession of the latter part of the 2000s. Although commentators perceived Brown to have made some good decisions during the economic crisis, such as providing financial aid to several UK banks which found themselves in difficulty, the recapitalisation of the banks lead to a massive rise in national debt as the private debt accumulated by the banks became public. He was also viewed by the media as someone who lacked interpersonal skills. Another major event that occurred during Brown's time in government was the 2009 scandal involving MPs expenses, which damaged the public's trust in politicians.
By April 2010, almost five years had passed since the previous general election (held on 5 May 2005), requiring a fresh election to take place. On 6 April 2010, Brown went to Buckingham Palace to ask the Queen to dissolve Parliament on 12 April in preparation for a general election. In a press conference broadcast live from Downing Street, Brown announced the election would be held on 6 May. The time between the announcement of the election and the dissolution of Parliament, known as wash-up, was to allow for the handling of any unfinished legislative business before the Parliamentary session's conclusion.
Labour campaigned to secure a fourth consecutive term in office and to restore support lost since 1997, while the Conservative Party sought to gain a dominant position in British politics after losses in the 1990s, and to replace Labour as the governing party. The Liberal Democrats hoped to make gains from both sides, and possibly hold the balance of power in a hung parliament. Following the televised debates between the three leaders – the first of their type during an election campaign in the United Kingdom – their poll ratings had risen to the point where many considered the possibility of a Liberal Democrat role in Government. While Cameron and Clegg were generally well received by the viewers of the three debates, Brown's performance was considered to have been less successful. Brown's image was further harmed when he privately described Gillian Duffy, a 65-year-old pensioner, as a "bigoted woman" after she raised the issue of benefits and immigration with him during a campaign trip to Rochdale, Greater Manchester. His remarks were recorded by a Sky News microphone he was still wearing as he was driven away from the visit, and were widely broadcast.
Polls just before election day showed a slight swing from the Liberal Democrats back to Labour and the Conservatives, with most of final polls falling within one point of Conservatives 36%, Labour 28%, Liberal Democrats 27%. However, record numbers of undecided voters raised uncertainty about the outcome. The Scottish National Party (SNP), encouraged by its victory in the 2007 Scottish Parliament elections, set itself a target of returning 20 MPs and hoped to find itself holding a balance of power. Equally, Plaid Cymru sought gains in Wales. In Northern Ireland, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) aimed to maintain or increase its number of seats, having been the fourth largest party in the House of Commons. Smaller parties which had had successes at local elections and the 2009 European elections (UK Independence Party, Green Party, British National Party) aimed to extend their representation to seats in the House of Commons.
The election.
The general election was held on Thursday 6 May 2010 and saw an increase in voter turnout from 61% in 2005 to 65% in 2010. Throughout the day GfK NOP and Ipsos MORI conducted an exit poll on behalf of the BBC, Sky and ITV news services – the results of which were announced as the polls closed at 10:00 pm. Data gathered from individuals at 130 polling stations around the country suggested a hung parliament, with an initial estimate that the Conservative Party would achieve 307 seats – 19 seats short of a controlling majority. This deficit was later adjusted to 21 seats. The distribution of seats was initially predicted to be 307 to the Conservatives, 255 to Labour, 59 to the Liberal Democrats and 29 to the other parties, but these figures were later updated with a minor adjustment in Labour's favour. The apparently poor prospects for the Liberal Democrats were a surprise to commentators, as many previous opinion polls had indicated they would receive more seats. A later BBC exit poll published at 5:36 am on Friday 7 May predicted the Conservatives on 306, 20 short of an overall majority, with Labour on 262, and the Liberal Democrats on 55.
At 9:41am on 7 May, the BBC confirmed a "hung parliament", as it was by then impossible for the Conservative party to gain the number of seats needed to form a majority government. 326 seats were required for a technical majority, but only 323 were necessary for a practical majority, as the five Sinn Féin MPs were expected to boycott the House of Commons. At that time the Conservatives stood at 290 seats, Labour at 247 and Liberal Democrats at 51. The final results put the Conservatives on 306 seats, Labour on 258, and the Liberal Democrats on 57.
Of the 532 seats contested in England, the Conservatives won an absolute majority of 61 seats and secured an average swing of 5.6% from Labour. The last seat to be elected, Thirsk and Malton, was contested on 27 May because one of the candidates died. All of Scotland's 59 seats were won by the parties that won them at the 2005 election, with Labour regaining the two seats they lost in by-elections since 2005. Labour increased its share of the vote by 2.5% and the Conservatives by 0.9%, giving a swing from the Conservatives to Labour of 0.8%. The Conservatives won only one Scottish constituency, while the SNP – which had hoped to increase its share of seats from seven to 20 – failed to make any headway.
40 seats were contested in Wales, where the Conservative share rose from three seats to eight, taking one from the Liberal Democrats and four from Labour. Welsh nationalist party Plaid Cymru gained one extra seat, Arfon, from Labour. Overall, Labour lost four seats but remained the biggest party in Wales with 26 seats. 18 seats were contested in Northern Ireland, where both Irish nationalist parties, Sinn Féin and the SDLP, held their seats, the unionist UUP (in an electoral pact with the Conservatives) lost their only seat and the DUP lost a seat. This left the nationalist parties with eight seats, the unionist parties with eight seats (all DUP), the Alliance Party with one seat and an independent unionist with one seat. It was the first time since the Partition of Ireland that unionist parties had failed to secure a majority of Northern Ireland's Westminster seats in a general election.
Initial statements and negotiations.
With no single party having achieved an overall majority, the 2010 general election resulted in the first hung parliament since 1974. When it became clear that no party would achieve the outright majority needed to form the next government, the three main party leaders made public statements offering to discuss the options for putting together an administration with the other parties. Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg called on Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Conservative leader David Cameron to act "in the national interest and not out of narrow party political advantage". However, having stated before the election that the party with the most seats should have the initial say on forming a government, Clegg announced his intention to begin talks with the Conservative Party. Speaking outside the Liberal Democrat headquarters he said: "It is now for the Conservative Party to prove that it is capable of seeking to govern in the national interest." Brown said he intended to play his part in securing "a stable, strong and principled government", and indicated his willingness to speak with both Clegg and Cameron on how to achieve this, saying: "What we have seen are no ordinary election results." But shortly after, Cameron held a press conference at which he invited the Liberal Democrats to talks, saying: "I want to make a big, open and comprehensive offer to the Liberal Democrats. I want us to work together in tackling our country's big and urgent problems - the debt crisis, our deep social problems and our broken political system."
Under the constitutional rules governing protocol in the event of a hung parliament, Brown, as the sitting Prime Minister, would remain in office until a new government could be formed, a process which could continue until resolution. On Brown's instructions, Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell had updated the protocol for dealing with a hung parliament earlier in the year. Following confirmation that no party had achieved an overall majority, Brown authorised O'Donnell to begin the process. Four-member teams of civil servants were sent to liaise with the main political parties to facilitate negotiations.
Cameron's willingness to hold talks with the Liberal Democrats was