The UK is Sort of Stuck Now

PrimeMinisterSince it seems like the British people simply couldn’t make up their collective minds, the aftermath of the UK’s recent election results has the country n a bit of a mess.  What happened with the national elections was that no single party won a clear overall majority.  This means that forming a government is not going to be as straightforward as it usually is.  This situation has not occurred in Britain for nearly 40 years.

Understanding a Hung Parliament

When no single party has enough Members of Parliament (MPs) elected to form a majority in the House of Commons, a hung parliament ensues.  That means that whatever party ultimately ends up as the government, it will not have the power needed to pass laws without getting the backing from the other parties.  In other words, no one single party will have ultimate control.  This produces two options:  either there will be a formal coalition among the smaller parties, or the larger party will just have to hope that once in power, the smaller parties will support it to get its laws passed.  So it’s certainly going to be interesting as to what will now transpire in Britain’s parliamentary system.