By Michael Faulkner - 06.12.15

The outcome of the general election that took place on the 7th May confounded the expectations not only of all the pundits but of almost everyone else as well.  For months opinion polls had been predicting that neither of the two largest parties, Conservatives and Labour, would win an overall majority, pointing inescapably to a hung parliament. Despite the protestation of the two party leaders, Cameron and Miliband, that they were each expecting to form a majority government, it was obvious that neither of them believed it to be within their reach. Serious discussion focussed on computing the likely tallies of seats to be won by the smaller parties – Liberal Democrats, Greens, UKIP, Scottish and Welsh nationalists and a handful of others in Northern Ireland – and how they might align themselves to prop up a minority government. In the end it all turned out to have been a futile exercise. The Tories won the election with an overall majority of 12 seats in the House of Commons.