What does this mean for Scotland?

[guohua]

Maybe @"gordi"  or @"BIAD"  can explain what it means for Scotland to have the Conservatives holding 315 and seats or more.

Key points:

• The second Sky News forecast indicates there will be a hung parliament with the Conservatives as the largest party, winning 315 to 325 seats
  
• Jon Craig has the latest on how a poor Tory result could affect the Brexit timetable.
  
• Exit poll forecasts Labour will gain 34 seats, taking it to a total of 266 seats
  
• Former Lib Dem leader and deputy prime minister Nick Clegg loses his seat in Sheffield Hallam
  
• UKIP leader Paul Nuttall fails in his bid to be elected in Boston & Skegness, coming third
  
• In Scotland, the SNP "could suffer heavier losses than was widely anticipated" 
  
• Analysis: What happens if there is a hung parliament?
  

Source

[BIAD]

The Basics first!!

The United Kingdom is divided into 650 constituencies (agreed electoral areas of the country) and
each constituency elects a member of Parliament (MP). Parliamentary candidates have to pay their
own deposit which currently stands at £500.

The people of the United Kingdom receive a ballot sheet with candidates for their particular constituency
and choose a member of Parliament listed on that ballot sheet in three ways:
*In person at a polling station.
*By post.
*By proxy (someone voting on your behalf).
.................................................

The major political parties for the United Kingdom's 2017 General election are:

The Conservative Party. (CON)
A centre-right political party, It is currently the governing party, having won a majority of seats in the House
of Commons at the 2015 general election. The party's leader, Theresa May, is currently serving as Prime
Minister.

The Labour Party. (LAB)
A centre-left political party, favoured by the trade unions. Labour holds a diversity of ideological trends from
strongly socialist to moderately social democratic. The current party leader is Jeremy Corbyn.

The Scottish National Party. (SNP)
Supports and campaigns for Scottish independence from the United Kingdom and to be an independent
sovereign state. Nicola Sturgeon is the current First Minister of Scotland and leader of the SNP.

The Liberal Democrats. (LIB-DEM)
Were formed in 1988 as a merger of the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party (SDP), a splinter group
from the Labour Party. The two parties had formed the SDP–Liberal Alliance for the previous seven years.
Tim Farron is the party's leader.

The Democratic Unionist Party. (DUP)
The largest unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was established in 1971 by Ian Paisley and
Desmond Boal and other members of the Protestant Unionist Party. The party's leader is Arlene Foster.

Sinn Féin.
The Irish republican political party historically associated with the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA).
Sceptical of the European Union, Sinn Féin deemed that if the United Kingdom left the EU, it would be
'economically disastrous'. The party's main political goal is a 'United Ireland'
The party's president is Gerry Adams.

Plaid Cymru.
The political  social-democratic party of Wales. Advocating for Welsh independence and to promote the
Welsh language. The party's leader is Leanne Wood.

The Green Party. (The Greens)
A green, left-wing political party in England and Wales. Environmentalism and locally controlled public services.
Also supports proportional representation and social policies such as civil liberties, animal rights, LGBT rights
and drug policy reform.
Co-Leaders are Caroline Lucas and Jonathan Bartley.

The UK Independence Party. (UKIP)
A right-wing populist political party and strong Euro-sceptic. UKIP has no Members of Parliament in the House
of Commons, but has three representatives in the House of Lords.
It promotes a British unionist and British nationalist agenda.
The Current leader is Paul Nuttall.

The Ulster Unionist Party. (UUP)
The oldest of unionist parties in Ireland, the UUP generally favours the continuation of some form of political
union between the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. Current leader, Robin Swann.

The Social Democratic and Labour Party. (SDLP)
Advocates Irish reunification, and the further devolution of powers whilst supporting Northern Ireland remaining
part of the United Kingdom. Colum Eastwood leads the SDLP.

The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland. (APNI)
Liberal and centrist, the APNI focuses on the legitimacy of a distinctive Northern Ireland community in a manner
that benefits a wide liberal ideology.
The current leader is Naomi Long.

The Monster Raving Loony Party.
Established in the United Kingdom in 1983 by the musician David Sutch, better known as "Screaming Lord Sutch,
3rd Earl of Harrow" Focuses on the satire of British politics and the culture of elections.
Current Monster-Head, Howling Laud Hope.
.................................................

For a party to get a majority and be able to form a government, it must win at least 326 of the House of Commons’
650 seats.

[guohua]

@"BIAD" Oh,, Wow, OK.
Thanks for the education.
DAMN! 

[BIAD]

Now to answer your questions!!

Parliament is dissolved and every seat in the House of Commons becomes vacant when a general election is held.
Usually the political party that wins the most seats in the House of Commons forms the Government and the way to win
an election is to acquire 326 seats out of the 650 available.

The leader of that particular sucessful party traditionally becomes Prime Minister and the group that came 'second'
is deemed the Shadow party. But getting over the line to obtain 326 seats tends not to be easy and the in 2017 election,
the two major parties failed to so.

Theresa May, the current Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party only obtained 318 seats with Jeremy
Corbyn and the Labour Party running  close with 261. At the time of writing, one constituency is still to be announced,
but what this situation is usually called 'A Hung Parliament' as no group is a majority.

In the case of a hung parliament, the leader of the party with the most seats is given the opportunity to try to form a
government. This can take two forms:
One option is a formal coalition with other parties, in which the coalition partners share ministerial jobs and push
through a shared agenda.

The other possibility is a more informal arrangement, known as “confidence and supply”, in which the smaller parties
agree to support the main legislation, such as a budget and Queen’s speech put forward by the largest party but
do formally take part in government.
..........................................................

In regards of Scotland and the Scottish National Party (SNP), Nicola Sturgeon, the party’s leader, did state:
“If there was to be a hung parliament of course we would look to be part of a progressive alliance that pursued
progressive policies.”

But in my view, the Conservative Party -if they did decide to push for a majority Government, will look to the Democratic
Unionist party (DUP) to assist in getting the 326 seats as the DUP have ten of them. (Link To This)
The DUP have already stated they wouldn't join a coalition with the Labour Party.

I'm sure Gordi will offer a more informed answer to the queestion, though.

[BIAD]

Hung parliament - May says she intends to form a government.

'After meeting the Queen, Theresa May says she intends to form a government that will
"deliver on the will of the British people"

[gordi]

Maybe @"gordi"  or @"BIAD"  can explain what it means for Scotland to have the Conservatives holding 315 and seats or more.
[url=http://news.sky.com/story/general-election-live-broadcasters-exit-poll-due-at-10pm-10908978][/url]

You need over 326 seats to form a Majority Government (I think?)
The Conservative leader and Prime Minister Theresa May decided to hold a very early election to try and strengthen her majority (because all of the opinion polls said that she would succeed) so that she would basically have carte blanche to do what she wanted with regards to Brexit.
It seems to have backfired on her as they have lost some seats overall and do not now hold a Majority of seats in Parliament.
The result is a "Hung Parliament" where no one can form a Majority Government  on their own.
This means that to form a Government, the Conservatives must form a union or coalition with one of the smaller parties (probably the DUP of N.Ireland).

Theresa May has weakened her position as PM and with regards to Brexit because she no longer has a Majority to be able to push her own policies through.

In Scotland, the Conservatives actually (surprisingly) gained some ground and some seats there, but the SNP (despite losing a lot of seats) are still far and away the biggest party with a good Majority (in Scotland), so on balance the Hung Parliament doesn't really affect Scotland too much... I think! LOL

All very confusing.

VERY Impressed with BIADs explanation of the UK electoral system btw!

G

[BIAD]

...Theresa May has weakened her position as PM and with regards to Brexit because she no longer
has a Majority to be able to push her own policies through...

Do you think the SNP can put their foot in the door, Gordi? (And would you want them to?)
Maybe a coalition that way?

[gordi]

...Theresa May has weakened her position as PM and with regards to Brexit because she no longer
has a Majority to be able to push her own policies through...

Do you think the SNP can put their foot in the door, Gordi? (And would you want them to?)
Maybe a coalition that way?

They could   but it's not something that I'd like to see personally.
I think the DUP (as a unionist party) would be much more likely bedfellows for the Conservatives.

I'm going to start my own Party.
The LIP.
(London Independence Party)
Build a big wall on the M25 and let London leave Europe.
The Rest of UK then negotiate their own Brexit Deal before Voting on whether to accept it or not.
The rUK would be economically sound, because they'd be selling EVERYTHING to the newly Independent London (instead of giving it to them as seems to happen now... LOL)



VOTE GORDI!

[Daitengu]

Damnit .... had hoped uk got smart an actually hung all the politicians .....

[Mystic Wanderer]

LIVE NOW...

[BIAD]

I'm going to start my own Party.
The LIP.
(London Independence Party)...

I honestly think the Londoners did that to the rest of the country over a century ago!

[BIAD]

Damnit .... had hoped uk got smart an actually hung all the politicians .....

You've got my vote for that idea, Dait! Some of the wimps we have are disgraceful.

[guohua]

Thank You @"BIAD" and @"gordi" those explanations helped a lot.
My Opinion,,,, What A Mess!