Can somebody please explain to me exactly what a "hung parliment" is?

[Gerbil]

This may sound thick, but i'm only 15 so you can let me off

 

[The Large One]

It's where no one party has no overall control of Parliament, and to do so, you need at least 326 (out of the 649 constituencies) MPs.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

This may sound thick, but i'm only 15 so you can let me off

basically , we're all screwed.

 

[HP Seagull]

basically , we're all screwed.

Not as screwed as we would have been had Cameron got a winning majority.

 

[Trufflehound]

It's one in which the public gets to hang cabinet ministers, one by one, until the government comes up with some sensible policies.

Which one gets hung each day will be decided by a Big Brother style phone-in vote.

 

[fire&skill]

This may sound thick, but i'm only 15 so you can let me off

Hung parliament - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

quote: However in nations in which the first-past-the-post voting system in single member districts is used to elect parliament, such as the United Kingdom, a hung parliament is a rarity, as in these circumstances one party will usually hold enough seats to form a majority, often without a plurality of votes on a national basis. A hung parliament will usually force either a coalition government, a minority government or a dissolution of parliament. Frequent hung parliaments can result in smaller parties staying in power for decades as they switch support between the two or three major parties (this is what occurred with the Free Democratic Party in Germany).

Gulp!

 

[Rookie]

basically , we're all screwed.

Not really, far too much legislation gets passed by Labour and hopefully this will slow it down a bit.
Has worked in other countries so who knows it could be a good thing

 

[Heffle Gull]

It's one in which the public gets to hang cabinet ministers, one by one, until the government comes up with some sensible policies.

Which one gets hung each day will be decided by a Big Brother style phone-in vote.

Shame Bakers not a cabinet minister then.

Can we hang him anyway?

 

[perseus]

It is like a picture hung on the wall. Nothing really happens until people get actually hanged.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/election-2010/7689985/What-is-a-hung-Parliament.html

 

[Robyn]

OK as simply as I can put it.

No party reached the magic 326 number to gain absolute majority (roughly half the total seats plus one) and take control.

So it's deal or no deal time....bit like being in the transfer market.

Labour and the Conservatives will be trying to convince the other parties (Lib Dems etc) to join their team. They've got to agree terms so there will be lots of arguing over things

Will take a while but they'll want it sorted before the Queens Speech on the 25th.