Comments on: They’re talking election again http://americaninbritain.com/theyre-talking-election-again Views from across the Herring Pond Thu, 29 Jul 2010 06:46:11 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: alison http://americaninbritain.com/theyre-talking-election-again#comment-2581 alison Thu, 08 Apr 2010 00:17:03 +0000 http://americaninbritain.com/?p=787#comment-2581 With regard to the leader losing their seat- The party with the majority seats will still form the government, but the party will have to choose a new leader from the new parliament, who will become (with a few exceptions) the prime minister. With regard to the leader losing their seat- The party with the majority seats will still form the government, but the party will have to choose a new leader from the new parliament, who will become (with a few exceptions) the prime minister.

]]> By: Howard http://americaninbritain.com/theyre-talking-election-again#comment-2210 Howard Mon, 01 Feb 2010 14:50:28 +0000 http://americaninbritain.com/?p=787#comment-2210 The party with the majority of seats in the Commons forms the government. It doesn't have to have an overall majority, though it almost always has had one in the past. If it doesn't have an overall majority it would find it difficult to get any but the most non-contentious of its leglislation passed into law, because the opposition parties could always defeat it in a debate. If a government is defeated in a debate it has then to defend itself in a further debate on a motion of "no confidence". If it is defeated in that debate, it has then to "go to the country" -- in other words, call a General Election. This happened in 1979, when the Labour Government fell to the Tories under Thatcher. Governments can call General Elections whenever they like, though they have to do so within five years of the last one. In 1966 Harold Wilson called an election within 18 months of the election that originally brought him to power, because he had an overall majority of only four seats, too small to be really workable for a government. He increased the party's overall majority to 96 seats, which allowed it to govern without the risk of being defeated in a debate. What will happen if after the next election no party has an overall majority could be one of these: (a) the party with the most seats will form a coalition government with one of the other parties, or it will (b)call another election. I don't think there has ever been a case of the leader of a party losing his/her seat (they usually stand in extremely safe constituencies), but if it were to happen, they could no longer be head of their party, and their party would hold an election within itself to appoint a new leader. The party with the majority of seats in the Commons forms the government. It doesn’t have to have an overall majority, though it almost always has had one in the past. If it doesn’t have an overall majority it would find it difficult to get any but the most non-contentious of its leglislation passed into law, because the opposition parties could always defeat it in a debate. If a government is defeated in a debate it has then to defend itself in a further debate on a motion of “no confidence”. If it is defeated in that debate, it has then to “go to the country” — in other words, call a General Election. This happened in 1979, when the Labour Government fell to the Tories under Thatcher.

Governments can call General Elections whenever they like, though they have to do so within five years of the last one. In 1966 Harold Wilson called an election within 18 months of the election that originally brought him to power, because he had an overall majority of only four seats, too small to be really workable for a government. He increased the party’s overall majority to 96 seats, which allowed it to govern without the risk of being defeated in a debate.

What will happen if after the next election no party has an overall majority could be one of these: (a) the party with the most seats will form a coalition government with one of the other parties, or it will (b)call another election.

I don’t think there has ever been a case of the leader of a party losing his/her seat (they usually stand in extremely safe constituencies), but if it were to happen, they could no longer be head of their party, and their party would hold an election within itself to appoint a new leader.

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