Daily View: The prospect of a hung Parliament

Clare Spencer | 09:51 UK time, Wednesday, 21 April 2010

Commentators discuss whether the possibility of an end of the two-horse race in British politics and consider the prospect of a hung Parliament.

Parliament Fay Weldon argues in the Guardian that Nick Clegg and the possibility of a hung Parliament offer the same hope voters had in 1997 before Labour's landslide victory:

"Clegg appears on the TV debate, looking rather more, to the 10 million who watch, like a living person than a politician. If Cameron and Brown look like puppets dangled by spin masters, Clegg seems a decent fellow who thinks on his feet. A tremor of hope runs through the audience. A third of the electorate claim they want a hung parliament - presumably on the grounds that the less a government actually does the better - and polls suggest they're likely to have their way. More of us will turn up to vote on May 6 than seemed likely a month ago. Clegg, well, hope springs eternal."

Simon Heffer says in the Telegraph that the public are looking for a rebel to back:

"The usually uninterested public, in this rare moment of engagement, did what it often does at such times, and became impressed by the last charlatan to come along. The post of novelty charlatan was previously held by Mr Cameron. He established his claim to it when he sought the leadership of his party in 2005, with a performance of equivalent meretriciousness and vacuousness to that executed by Mr Clegg. He now knows how David Davis felt: elbowed aside by somebody more glamorous, more novel, more manipulative, less contaminated by the past. We must doubt that the Liberal Democrats will win the general election, or that Mr Clegg will be prime minister, but the change effected by the unprecedented television debate will have elements of permanence."

In the Daily Mail Andrew Alexander gives a few reasons why we could be seeing the end of the two-horse race this election:

"Whatever national polls may claim, the fact also remains that many seats have become unpredictable, especially where their MPs are standing again and vulnerable on the charge of corruption.
There is also a plethora of small parties able to siphon off critical votes. The pollsters' faith in their figures is touching but unrealistic."

In the Telegraph Alan Cochrane gives a warning about the Liberal Democrats being the power-brokers from when they were in Scottish Parliament in 1999:

"Anyone expecting our leaders to pull together for the good of the nation will be disappointed: prepare yourselves instead for endless wheeling and dealing in what are now smoke-free rooms, and any amount of secret backstairs bargaining. Prepare yourselves, too, for an administration with a distinctly yellow hue. For having already tried a coalition with Labour, and believing themselves to have been "stiffed" over the number of ministerial jobs - and the limousines that go with them - they received, the Liberal Democrats are determined not to make the same mistake again."

In the Independent's editorial a hung Parliament is imagined where the SNP could gain real influence:

"It is unlikely, for instance, that the UK would have gone to war in Iraq if the SNP and Plaid had had a decisive say in the past. We could avoid the wasteful expense of renewing Trident, or introducing ID cards, if they have a decisive say in the future. A minority Labour government dependent on SNP and Plaid support could turn out to be more radical than a majority Labour government ever dared to be."

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