WALES


The political brief

GENERAL ELECTION SUMMARY

Westminster

The General Election on 6 May saw the Conservative Party winning the largest number of votes and seats but falling short of the 326 seats needed to have an overall majority. Labour secured 258 Parliamentary seats across the country. This is the first time since 1974, and the second since World War II, that a General Election has returned a hung parliament.

The Liberal Democrats suffered a net loss of five seats, despite opinion polls indicating a breakthrough. Nevertheless,

they achieved their largest popular vote since their creation in 1988 and found themselves in a potentially pivotal role in the formation of the new Government. Nationally, the swing from Labour to the Conservatives appears to have been around 5.1%.

However, the figure varies enormously from constituency to constituency with the Conservatives gaining many more votes in some areas and a swing towards Labour in other key marginal seats such as Poplar and Limehouse, and East Renfrewshire.

The Green Party’s Caroline Lucas won Brighton Pavilion, becoming the party’s first Westminster MP.

The British National Party (BNP) increased its share of the vote but won no seats and lost the majority of their council seats nationally.

In all, 35% of voters supported a party other than Labour or the Conservatives – the highest such figure since the 1918 General Election.

Hung Parliament

As no party obtained an overall majority, some form of co-operation or coalition is now required. Soon after it became clear that a hung parliament was assured, the leaders of the three main political parties made public statements offering to discuss the options for forming the next Government. The Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg made clear his

view that as the largest party, the Conservatives should have the first opportunity to seek to form a Government and, as such, the Liberal Democrats entered into negotiations with the Conservatives to explore the opportunity for some form of agreement to be reached between the two parties. Throughout these initial stages the opportunity remained for discussions between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats to continue if required. Over the weekend following the election, meetings did take place with the Liberal Democrats, and on the Monday Gordon Brown announced his intention to stand down as Leader of the Labour Party and as Prime Minister, with a view to the Labour Party electing a new leader by the time of its conference in September.

The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats reached an agreement and will form a full coalition Government with the intention of remaining in power until the next election (May 2015). The coalition will include five Liberal Democrats in the Cabinet and a Liberal Democrat Minister in every Government department.

Documents detailing the policy agreements reached will be forthcoming as the Government establishes itself and the NASUWT will be responding in full to all announcements and policies that will impact on education, public services and our members.

Wales

The Conservatives made some gains in Wales. However, Labour has retained several seats, while Plaid and the Liberal Democrats faced disappointment. The most notable result of the night was the Conservatives’ capture of Montgomeryshire from Lembit Opik of the Liberal Democrats.

Labour emphatically regained their former stronghold of Blaenau Gwent, which was lost in 2005 to an independent after an internal party row. The Liberal Democrats held Ceredigion and Cardiff Central but failed to gain Swansea West from Labour. Welsh Labour will be significantly relieved to

have hung on in several seats that had been targeted by the other parties. Although they saw much reduced majorities in seats like Bridgend, Gower, and Alyn and Deeside, they fought off Liberal Democrat challenges in Newport East and Swansea West, as well as Plaid Cymru in Ynys Mon.

Labour 26 -4

Conservative 8 +5

Liberal Democrats 3 -1

Plaid Cymru 1 +1

Independent 0 -1