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The 2015 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 7 May 2015 to elect
650 members to the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...
. It was the first and only
general election held at the end of a Parliament under the
Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011.
Local elections took place in most areas on the same day.
Polls and commentators had predicted the outcome would be too close to call and would result in a second consecutive
hung parliament
A hung parliament is a term used in legislatures primarily under the Westminster system to describe a situation in which no single political party or pre-existing coalition (also known as an alliance or bloc) has an absolute majority of legisla ...
whose composition would be either similar to or more complicated than the
2010 general election. Opinion polls were eventually proven to have underestimated the
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
vote as the party, having governed
in coalition with the
Liberal Democrats since
2010, won 330 seats and 36.9% of the vote share, giving them a small overall majority of 12 seats (including
Speaker
Speaker may refer to:
Society and politics
* Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly
* Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture
* A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially:
** I ...
John Bercow
John Simon Bercow (; born 19 January 1963) is a British former politician who was Speaker of the House of Commons from 2009 to 2019, and Member of Parliament (MP) for Buckingham between 1997 and 2019. A member of the Conservative Party prior t ...
—ten seats without him) and their first outright win since
1992. It therefore won a mandate to govern alone with
David Cameron continuing as
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
.
The
Labour Party, led by
Ed Miliband
Edward Samuel "Ed" Miliband (born 24 December 1969) is a British politician serving as Shadow Secretary of State for Climate Change and Net Zero since 2021. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Doncaster North since 2005. Miliban ...
, who had succeeded
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in Tony B ...
following his resignation after defeat the 2010 general election following 13 years in Government, saw a small increase in its share of the vote to 30.4%; but incurred a net loss of seats to return 232 MPs. This was its lowest seat tally since the
1987 general election. Several senior Labour
Shadow Cabinet members, notably
Ed Balls
Edward Michael Balls (born 25 February 1967) is a British broadcaster, writer, economist, professor and former politician who served as Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families from 2007 to 2010, and as Shadow Chancellor of the Ex ...
,
Douglas Alexander
Douglas Garven Alexander (born 26 October 1967) is a Labour politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Paisley and Renfrewshire South, previously Paisley South, from 1997 until his defeat in 2015. During this time, he served as ...
, and
Scottish Labour leader
Jim Murphy, were defeated.
The
Scottish National Party, enjoying a surge in support after the
2014 Scottish independence referendum (which saw the majority of voters in Scotland to reject independence and stay as part of the United Kingdom), won a landslide victory in Scotland at the expense of Labour; who had dominated Scottish politics in terms of numbers of seats since
1964
Events January
* January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved.
* January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarc ...
. The SNP won all but three of the 59 Scottish seats to become the third-largest party in the Commons.
The
Liberal Democrats, led by outgoing Deputy Prime Minister
Nick Clegg
Sir Nicholas William Peter Clegg (born 7 January 1967) is a British media executive and former Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom who has been president for global affairs at Meta Platforms since 2022, having previously been vicep ...
, had their worst result since their formation in 1988, losing all but eight of their 57 seats, with Cabinet ministers
Vince Cable
Sir John Vincent Cable (born 9 May 1943) is a British politician who was Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2017 to 2019. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Twickenham from 1997 to 2015 and from 2017 to 2019. He also served in the Cabinet as ...
,
Ed Davey
Sir Edward Jonathan Davey (born 25 December 1965) is a British politician who has served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats since 2020. He served in the Cameron–Clegg coalition as Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change from 2012 ...
and
Danny Alexander
Sir Daniel Grian Alexander (born 15 May 1972) is a former politician who was Chief Secretary to the Treasury between 2010 and 2015. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch & Strathspey constituency from 2005 u ...
losing their seats, although Clegg himself managed to retain his seat.
UKIP
The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest p ...
came third in terms of votes with a 12.6% but won only
a single seat, with party leader
Nigel Farage
Nigel Paul Farage (; born 3 April 1964) is a British broadcaster and former politician who was Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2006 to 2009 and 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Brexit Party (renamed Reform UK in 2021) from 2 ...
failing to win the seat of
South Thanet; but finished in a close second to the Conservatives in his most successful election result to date. The
Green Party won its highest-ever share of the vote with 3.8%, and retained
their only seat.
Ed Miliband
Edward Samuel "Ed" Miliband (born 24 December 1969) is a British politician serving as Shadow Secretary of State for Climate Change and Net Zero since 2021. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Doncaster North since 2005. Miliban ...
and
Jim Murphy both resigned from the Leadership of the Labour Party, as did Clegg for the Liberal Democrats. In
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
, the
Ulster Unionist Party
The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it led unionist opposition to the Irish Home Rule m ...
returned to the Commons with two MPs after a five-year absence, while the
Alliance Party lost its only seat despite an increase in total vote share.
The election is in retrospect considered to have begun a
political realignment
A political realignment, often called a critical election, critical realignment, or realigning election, in the academic fields of political science and political history, is a set of sharp changes in party ideology, issues, party leaders, regional ...
in the UK's electoral politics, marking the end of the traditional three-party domination seen for most of the previous century. The Scottish National Party began its domination of Scottish representation in Westminster (having already begun dominating elections to the
Scottish Parliament since 2007). It also saw one of the last public appearances of former Liberal Democrat leader
Charles Kennedy
Charles Peter Kennedy (25 November 1959 – 1 June 2015) was a British Liberal Democrat politician who served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 1999 to 2006, and was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ross, Skye and Lochaber from 1983 ...
who lost his seat in
Ross, Skye and Lochaber to the Scottish Nationalist
Ian Blackford
Ian Blackford (born 14 May 1961) is a Scottish politician who served as Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) in the House of Commons from 2017 to 2022. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ross, Skye and Lochaber since 2015.
Or ...
, before his death on 1 June.
Other notable members that stepped down at this election included: Former Chancellor of the Exchequer
Alistair Darling
Alistair Maclean Darling, Baron Darling of Roulanish, (born 28 November 1953) is a British politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer under Prime Minister Gordon Brown from 2007 to 2010. A member of the Labour Party, he was a Member ...
,
Frank Dobson
Frank Gordon Dobson (15 March 1940 – 11 November 2019) was a British Labour Party politician. As Member of Parliament (MP) for Holborn and St. Pancras from 1979 to 2015, he served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Health from 1997 t ...
, former Conservative leader
William Hague
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
, former Liberal Democrat leader
Menzies Campbell and
Malcolm Rifkind
Sir Malcolm Leslie Rifkind (born 21 June 1946) is a British politician who served in the cabinets of Margaret Thatcher and John Major from 1986 to 1997, and most recently as chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament from ...
. Notable newcomers to the House of Commons included future Chancellor of the Exchequer and Prime Minister
Rishi Sunak, future Labour Party leader
Keir Starmer
Sir Keir Rodney Starmer (; born 2 September 1962) is a British politician and barrister who has served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party since 2020. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Holborn and St Pancras s ...
and future Labour deputy leader
Angela Rayner
Angela Rayner (' Bowen; born 28 March 1980) is a British politician serving as Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office and Shadow Secretary of State for the Future of Work since 2021. She has been Sha ...
. Another future Prime Minister,
Boris Johnson
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...
, who previously stepped down in 2008 to serve as the Mayor of London returned to Parliament as the MP for
Uxbridge and South Ruislip.
Election process
The
Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 (as amended by the
Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013) led to the dissolution of the 55th Parliament on 30 March 2015 and the scheduling of the election on 7 May, the House of Commons not having voted for an earlier date.
There were
local elections on the same day in most of England, with the exception of
Greater London. No other elections were scheduled to take place in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, apart from any local by-elections.
All British, Irish and Commonwealth citizens over the age of 18 on the date of the election were permitted to vote. In general elections, voting takes place in all
parliamentary constituencies of the United Kingdom to elect members of parliament (MPs) to seats in the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...
, the dominant (historically termed the
lower
Lower may refer to:
*Lower (surname)
*Lower Township, New Jersey
*Lower Receiver (firearms)
*Lower Wick Gloucestershire, England
See also
*Nizhny
Nizhny (russian: Ни́жний; masculine), Nizhnyaya (; feminine), or Nizhneye (russian: Ни́� ...
) house of Parliament. Each parliamentary constituency of the United Kingdom elects one MP to the House of Commons using the
"first-past-the-post" system. If one party obtains a majority of seats, then that party is entitled to form the
Government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...
. If the election results in no single party having a majority, then there is a
hung parliament
A hung parliament is a term used in legislatures primarily under the Westminster system to describe a situation in which no single political party or pre-existing coalition (also known as an alliance or bloc) has an absolute majority of legisla ...
. In this case, the options for forming the Government are either a
minority government or a
coalition government.
Although the
Conservative Party planned the number of parliamentary seats to be reduced from 650 to 600, through the
Sixth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies
The 2013 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, also known as the sixth Review, or just boundary changes, was an ultimately unfruitful cycle of the process by which constituencies of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom are reviewe ...
under the
Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011, the review of constituencies and reduction in seats was delayed by the
Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013 amending the 2011 Act.
The next boundary review was set to take place in 2018; thus, the 2015 general election was contested using the same constituencies and boundaries as in 2010. Of the 650 constituencies, 533 were in England, 59 in Scotland, 40 in Wales and 18 in Northern Ireland.
In addition, the 2011 Act mandated a
referendum in 2011 on changing from the current
first-past-the-post voting
In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast thei ...
system to an
alternative vote
Instant-runoff voting (IRV) is a type of Ranked voting, ranked preferential Electoral system, voting method. It uses a Majority rule, majority voting rule in single-winner elections where there are more than two candidates. It is commonly referr ...
(instant-runoff) system for elections to the Commons. The
Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition agreement committed the coalition government to such a referendum. The referendum was held in May 2011 and
resulted in the retention of the existing voting system. Before the
previous general election the
Liberal Democrats had pledged to change the voting system, and the
Labour Party pledged to have a referendum about any such change.
The Conservatives, however, promised to keep the first-past-the-post system, but to reduce the number of constituencies by 10%. Liberal Democrat plans were to reduce the number of MPs to 500, and for them to be elected using a proportional system.
Ministers increased the amount of money that parties and candidates were allowed to spend on the election by 23%, a move decided against
Electoral Commission
An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...
advice. The election saw the first cap on spending by parties in individual constituencies during the 100 days before Parliament's dissolution on 30 March: £30,700, plus a per-voter allowance of 9p in county constituencies and 6p in borough seats. An additional voter allowance of more than £8,700 is available after the dissolution of Parliament. UK political parties spent £31.1m in the 2010 general election, of which the Conservative Party spent 53%, the Labour Party spent 25% and the Liberal Democrats 15%.
This was the first UK general election to use individual rather than household
voter registration
In electoral systems, voter registration (or enrollment) is the requirement that a person otherwise eligible to vote must register (or enroll) on an electoral roll, which is usually a prerequisite for being entitled or permitted to vote.
The r ...
.
Date of the election
An election is called following the
dissolution of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The 2015 general election was the first to be held under the provisions of the
Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011. Prior to this, the power to dissolve Parliament was a
royal prerogative
The royal prerogative is a body of customary authority, privilege and immunity, recognized in common law and, sometimes, in civil law jurisdictions possessing a monarchy, as belonging to the sovereign and which have become widely vested in th ...
, exercised by the
sovereign on the advice of the prime minister. Under the provisions of the
Septennial Act 1716, as amended by the
Parliament Act 1911
The Parliament Act 1911 (1 & 2 Geo. 5 c. 13) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is constitutionally important and partly governs the relationship between the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two Houses of Parlia ...
, an election had to be announced on or before the fifth anniversary of the beginning of the previous parliament, barring exceptional circumstances. No sovereign had refused a request for dissolution since the beginning of the 20th century, and the practice had evolved that a prime minister would typically call a general election to be held at a tactically convenient time within the final two years of a Parliament's lifespan, to maximise the chance of an electoral victory for his or her party.
Prior to the
2010 general election, the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats pledged to introduce
fixed-term election
A fixed-term election is an election that occurs on a set date, and cannot be changed by incumbent politicians other than through exceptional mechanisms if at all.
Fixed-term elections are common for directly elected executive officers, such as d ...
s.
As part of the Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition agreement, the
Cameron ministry agreed to support legislation for fixed-term Parliaments, with the date of the next general election being 7 May 2015. This resulted in the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011, which removed the prime minister's power to advise the monarch to call an early election. The Act only permits an early dissolution if Parliament votes for one by a two-thirds
supermajority, or if a majority of MPs pass a
vote of no confidence
A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...
and no new government is subsequently formed within 14 days. However, the prime minister had the power, by order made by
Statutory Instrument under section 1(5) of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011, to fix the polling day to be up to two months later than 7 May 2015. Such a Statutory Instrument must be approved by each House of Parliament. Under section 14 of the
Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013, the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 was amended to extend the period between the dissolution of Parliament and the following general election polling day from 17 to 25 working days. This had the effect of moving forward the date of the dissolution of the Parliament to 30 March 2015.
[
]
Timetable
The key dates were:
MPs not standing for re-election
While at the previous election there had been a record 148 MPs not standing for re-election, the 2015 election saw 90 MPs standing down. These comprised 38 Conservative, 37 Labour, 10 Liberal Democrat, 3 Independent, 1 Sinn Féin and 1 Plaid Cymru MP. The highest-profile members of parliament leaving were: Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in Tony B ...
, a former Prime Minister, Leader of the Labour Party (both 2007–2010) and Chancellor of the Exchequer (1997–2007); and William Hague
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
, the outgoing First Secretary of State
The First Secretary of State is an office that is sometimes held by a minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The office indicates seniority, including over all other Secretaries of State. The office is not always in use, ...
and Leader of the House of Commons
The leader of the House of Commons is a minister of the Crown of the Government of the United Kingdom whose main role is organising government business in the House of Commons. The leader is generally a member or attendee of the cabinet of t ...
and former Foreign Secretary (2010–2014), Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition (both 1997–2001). Alongside Brown and Hague, 17 former cabinet ministers stood down at the election, including Stephen Dorrell
Stephen James Dorrell (born 25 March 1952) is a British Liberal Democrat politician. He served as the Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Loughborough between 1979 and 1997 and then for Charnwood from 1997 to 2015.
Dorrell most recent ...
, Jack Straw
John Whitaker Straw (born 3 August 1946) is a British politician who served in the Cabinet from 1997 to 2010 under the Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. He held two of the traditional Great Offices of State, as Home Secretary ...
, Alistair Darling
Alistair Maclean Darling, Baron Darling of Roulanish, (born 28 November 1953) is a British politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer under Prime Minister Gordon Brown from 2007 to 2010. A member of the Labour Party, he was a Member ...
, David Blunkett
David Blunkett, Baron Blunkett, (born 6 June 1947) is a British Labour Party politician who has been a Member of the House of Lords since 2015, and previously served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough ...
, Sir Malcolm Rifkind
Sir Malcolm Leslie Rifkind (born 21 June 1946) is a British politician who served in the cabinets of Margaret Thatcher and John Major from 1986 to 1997, and most recently as chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament from ...
and Dame Tessa Jowell. The highest profile Liberal Democrat to stand down was former leader Sir Menzies Campbell
Walter Menzies Campbell, Baron Campbell of Pittenweem, (; born 22 May 1941), often known as Ming Campbell, is a British Liberal Democrat politician, advocate and former athlete. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for North East Fife from ...
, while the longest-serving MP (the " Father of the House") Sir Peter Tapsell also retired, having served from 1959
Events January
* January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance.
* January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...
to 1964
Events January
* January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved.
* January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarc ...
and then continuously since the 1966 general election.
Contesting political parties and candidates
Overview
, the deadline for standing for the general election, the Electoral Commission
An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...
's Register of Political Parties included 428 political parties registered in Great Britain, and 36 in Northern Ireland. Candidates who did not belong to a registered party could use an "independent" label, or no label at all.
The Conservative Party and the Labour Party had been the two biggest parties since 1922, and had supplied all UK prime ministers since 1935. Polls predicted that these parties would together receive between 65% and 75% of votes, and would together win between 80% and 85% of seats; and that, as such, the leader of one of those parties would be the prime minister after the election. The Liberal Democrats had been the third party in the UK for many years; but as described by various commentators, other parties had risen relative to the Liberal Democrats since the 2010 election. ''The Economist
''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Eco ...
'' described a "familiar two-and-a-half-party system" (Conservatives, Labour, and the Liberal Democrats) that "appears to be breaking down" with the rise of the United Kingdom Independence Party
The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), member ...
(UKIP), the Greens and the Scottish National Party (SNP). ''Newsnight
''Newsnight'' (or ''BBC Newsnight'') is BBC Two's news and current affairs programme, providing in-depth investigation and analysis of the stories behind the day's headlines. The programme is broadcast on weekdays at 22:30. and is also availa ...
''[''Newsnight'', BBC2, 5 January 2015] and ''The Economist'' described the country as moving into a six-party system, with the Liberal Democrats, SNP, UKIP and Greens all being significant. Ofcom, in their role regulating election coverage in the UK, ruled that, for the general election and local elections in May 2015, the major parties in Great Britain were the Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats, with UKIP a major party in England and Wales, the SNP a major party in Scotland, and Plaid Cymru
Plaid Cymru ( ; ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left to left-wing, Welsh nationalist political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from the United Kingdom.
Plaid wa ...
(PC) in Wales, and that the Greens were not a major party. The BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
's guidelines were similar but excluded UKIP from the category of "larger parties" in Great Britain, and instead stated that UKIP should be given "appropriate levels of coverage in output to which the largest parties contribute and, on some occasions, similar levels of coverage".
Seven parties (Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat, UKIP, SNP, PC and Green) participated in the
election leadership debates. Political parties based in Northern Ireland were ignored, despite the
DUP being the fourth largest party in the UK in the previous election, in terms of seats won, and gaining the same number of seats as the Liberal Democrats in this election.
National
Several parties operate in specific regions only. The main national parties, standing for seats across all (or most of) the country, are listed below in order of seats being contested:
*
Conservative Party: led by
David Cameron, the prime minister. The Conservative Party was the larger party in the coalition government, having won the most seats (306) at the
2010 election. The party stood in 647 seats (every seat except for two in Northern Ireland and the
Speaker
Speaker may refer to:
Society and politics
* Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly
* Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture
* A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially:
** I ...
's seat).
*
Labour Party: led by
Ed Miliband
Edward Samuel "Ed" Miliband (born 24 December 1969) is a British politician serving as Shadow Secretary of State for Climate Change and Net Zero since 2021. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Doncaster North since 2005. Miliban ...
, the
leader of the opposition. Labour had been in power from 1997 to 2010. The party constituted
Her Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition (also called the Official Opposition) after the 2010 election, having won 258 seats. It stood in 631 constituencies,
[After nominations had closed and ballot papers were printed, the Labour candidate in ]Banff and Buchan
Banff and Buchan is a committee area of the Aberdeenshire Council, Scotland.
It has a population of 35,742 (2001 Census). Fishing and agriculture are important industries, together with associated processing and service activity.
Banff and Bucha ...
, Sumon Hoque, was suspended from the Labour Party when he was charged with multiple driving offences, and the Labour candidate in Wellingborough
Wellingborough ( ) is a large market and commuter town in the unitary authority area of North Northamptonshire in the ceremonial county of Northamptonshire, England, 65 miles from London and from Northampton on the north side of the River Nen ...
, Richard Garvie, was also suspended after a conviction for fraud missing only the Speaker's seat. The Labour Party does not stand candidates for election in Northern Ireland.
*
Liberal Democrats: led by
Nick Clegg
Sir Nicholas William Peter Clegg (born 7 January 1967) is a British media executive and former Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom who has been president for global affairs at Meta Platforms since 2022, having previously been vicep ...
, the
deputy prime minister
A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president ...
. The Liberal Democrats were the junior member of the
2010–15 coalition government, having won 57 seats. They contested the same 631 seats as the Labour Party. The party did not stand candidates in Northern Ireland.
*
UK Independence Party
The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest par ...
(UKIP): led by
Nigel Farage
Nigel Paul Farage (; born 3 April 1964) is a British broadcaster and former politician who was Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2006 to 2009 and 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Brexit Party (renamed Reform UK in 2021) from 2 ...
, a
Member of the European Parliament
A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament.
When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...
, who had not previously been in parliament but was standing in
South Thanet in the general election. UKIP won the fourth-most votes at the 2010 election, but failed to win any seats. It subsequently won two seats at by-elections in 2014—both having been sitting Conservative MPs who resigned from the party, stood down voluntarily from their seat to fight a by-election, and won it for their new party - and won the highest share of votes at the
2014 European elections. It contested 624 seats across the United Kingdom.
[After nominations had closed and ballot papers were printed, two UKIP candidates were suspended from the party for offensive comments.]
* Green parties: three distinct but co-operating Green parties operate in the UK: the
Green Party of England and Wales
The Green Party of England and Wales (GPEW; cy, Plaid Werdd Cymru a Lloegr, kw, Party Gwer Pow an Sowson ha Kembra, often simply the Green Party or Greens) is a green, left-wing political party in England and Wales. Since October 2021, Carla ...
(GPEW), the
Green Party Northern Ireland
The Green Party Northern Ireland (sometimes abbreviated as Green Party NI) is a political party in Northern Ireland. Like many green political parties around the world, its origins lie in the anti-nuclear, labour and peace movements of the 19 ...
and the
Scottish Green Party
The Scottish Greens (also known as the Scottish Green Party; gd, Pàrtaidh Uaine na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Green Pairtie) are a green political party in Scotland. The party has seven MSPs in the Scottish Parliament as of May 2021. As of the 20 ...
. The Green Party of England and Wales was led by
Natalie Bennett
Natalie Louise Bennett, Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (born 10 February 1966) is a Australian-British politician and journalist who served as Leader of the Green Party of England and Wales from 2012 to 2016. Bennett was given a peerage in ...
, who had not previously been elected to Westminster, but stood in
Holborn and St Pancras at the general election. The GPEW won the fourth-largest share of votes in the 2014 European elections, ahead of the Liberal Democrats. The Green Party of Northern Ireland was led by
Steven Agnew. To date, the Green Party has made little impact in general elections in Northern Ireland, though they are generally slightly more successful in
South Belfast and
North Down and in local elections. The party worked closely with the other Green parties and with the
Green Party of Ireland. The Scottish Green Party is co-led by
Patrick Harvie
Patrick Harvie (born 18 March 1973) is a Scottish politician who has served as Minister for Zero Carbon Buildings, Active Travel and Tenants' Rights since 2021. He has served as one of two co-leaders of the Scottish Greens since 2008, and is on ...
MSP and
councillor
A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries.
Canada
Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...
Maggie Chapman, neither of whom were standing for election to Westminster.
Caroline Lucas was elected as the only Green MP in 2010, in which the three parties received a combined 1% of the vote and were seventh overall. The Greens stood in 573 seats.
Minor parties
Dozens of other minor parties stood in 2015. The
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition, founded as an
electoral alliance
An electoral alliance (also known as a bipartisan electoral agreement, electoral pact, electoral agreement, electoral coalition or electoral bloc) is an association of political parties or individuals that exists solely to stand in elections.
E ...
of socialist parties in 2010, had 135 candidates and was the only other party to have more than forty candidates.
Respect came into the election with one MP (
George Galloway), who was elected at the
2012 Bradford West by-election, but stood just four candidates. The
British National Party
The British National Party (BNP) is a far-right, fascist political party in the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in Wigton, Cumbria, and its leader is Adam Walker. A minor party, it has no elected representatives at any level of UK gover ...
, which finished fifth with 1.9% of the vote for its 338 candidates at the 2010 general election, stood only eight candidates following a collapse in support.
753 other candidates stood at the general election, including all independents, Scottish-based, Northern Ireland-based and Wales-based party candidates, and candidates from other parties.
Northern Ireland
The main parties in Northern Ireland (which had 18 constituencies) described by Ofcom,
the BBC
and others, in order of seats won, were:
*
Democratic Unionist Party (DUP): the DUP won eight seats in 2010, making it the largest Northern Ireland political party, and the fourth biggest in the UK as a whole. The party also won the
2011 Northern Ireland Assembly election
The 2011 Northern Ireland Assembly election took place on Thursday, 5 May, following the dissolution of the Northern Ireland Assembly at midnight on 24 March 2011. It was the fourth election to take place since the devolved assembly was establis ...
, but was second in the
2014 European election. It contested 16 Northern Irish constituencies, having entered into an electoral pact with the
Ulster Unionist Party
The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it led unionist opposition to the Irish Home Rule m ...
in the remaining two.
*
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur G ...
: Sinn Féin won the most votes in Northern Ireland in 2010, but came second in seats, winning five constituencies. It was second in the 2011 Assembly elections, but first in the 2014 European elections. Sinn Féin follows an
abstentionist
Abstentionism is standing for election to a deliberative assembly while refusing to take up any seats won or otherwise participate in the assembly's business. Abstentionism differs from an election boycott in that abstentionists participate in ...
policy with respect to the Commons, and has never so far taken its seats there. The party also operates in the
Republic of Ireland
Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...
, where it does take seats in parliament. It was standing in all 18 Northern Irish constituencies. Michelle Gildernew lost her seat in 2015, which she had held by only 4 votes in 2010, thus reducing the SF MPs from 5 to 4.
*
Social Democratic and Labour Party
The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) ( ga, Páirtí Sóisialta Daonlathach an Lucht Oibre) is a social-democratic and Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. The SDLP currently has eight members in the Northern Ireland ...
(SDLP): the SDLP was third in terms of votes and seats in the 2010 and 2011 elections, and fourth in the 2014 European elections. Prior to dissolution, the party had three MPs. The SDLP has a relationship with the Labour Party in Great Britain, with SDLP MPs generally following the Labour whip. The party was expected to have supported Labour in the event of a hung Parliament and contested all 18 constituencies at the election.
*
Ulster Unionist Party
The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it led unionist opposition to the Irish Home Rule m ...
(UUP): in 2010 the UUP shared
an electoral alliance with the Conservative Party, and finished fourth in terms of votes in Northern Ireland, but won no seats. The party has one MEP, having placed third in the 2014 European elections. It was fourth in the 2011 Assembly elections. The UUP contested 15 seats; the party did not run in two seats because of its electoral pact with the DUP, and also did not nominate a candidate against former UUP member and incumbent independent MP
Sylvia Hermon.
*
Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (APNI), or simply Alliance, is a liberal and centrist political party in Northern Ireland. As of the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election, it is the third-largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembl ...
: the Alliance Party had one MP,
Naomi Long, who had been elected for the first time in 2010. (Long lost her seat in 2015.) It was fifth in the 2010 election by vote share, fifth overall in 2011 and sixth in 2014. Alliance has a relationship with the Liberal Democrats in Great Britain: the party's former leader sits in the House of Lords as a Liberal Democrat, but Alliance's one MP elected in 2010 sat on the opposition benches in the Commons and not with the Liberal Democrats on the government benches. The party contested all 18 Northern Irish constituencies in 2015.
Smaller parties in Northern Ireland included
Traditional Unionist Voice
The Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. In common with all other Northern Irish unionist parties, the TUV's political programme has as its sine qua non the preservation of Northern Ireland's place ...
(standing in seven seats) and the
Green Party in Northern Ireland
The Green Party Northern Ireland (sometimes abbreviated as Green Party NI) is a political party in Northern Ireland. Like many green political parties around the world, its origins lie in the anti-nuclear, labour and peace movements of the 197 ...
(standing in five seats). In 2015 TUV and the Greens each held one seat in the
Legislative Assembly. The
North Down seat was retained by independent
Sylvia Hermon. The
Northern Ireland Conservatives and UKIP fielded candidates, whereas Labour and the Liberal Democrats do not contest elections in Northern Ireland.
Scotland
*
Scottish National Party (SNP): led by
Nicola Sturgeon, who is
First Minister of Scotland and did not stand in the general election. The SNP only contested seats in Scotland and stood in all 59 Scottish constituencies. The party received the second-most votes in Scotland and sixth-most overall in 2010, winning six seats. It won the
2011 election to the Scottish Parliament and had a surge of support since the
Scottish independence referendum in September 2014, in which it was the main political party behind the losing Yes campaign. Most projections suggested that it would be the third-largest party overall after the 2015 election, in terms of seats won, overtaking the Liberal Democrats.
Smaller parties in Scotland include the
Scottish Libertarian Party
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, logo =
, leader1_title = Deputy Leader
, leader1_name = Calum “Caz” Paul
, colours = Buff and blue
, seats3_title ...
, but none of the smaller parties make much of an impact in general elections in Scotland.
Wales
*
Plaid Cymru
Plaid Cymru ( ; ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left to left-wing, Welsh nationalist political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from the United Kingdom.
Plaid wa ...
: led by
Leanne Wood
Leanne Wood (born 13 December 1971) is a Welsh politician who served as the leader of Plaid Cymru from March 2012 to September 2018, and served as a Member of the Senedd (MS) from 2003 to 2021.
Born in the Rhondda, she was elected as to the ...
, who was a
member of the Welsh Assembly and did not stand in the general election. Plaid Cymru organises only in Wales, where it contested all forty Welsh constituencies. The party has three MPs and was fourth in Wales (eighth overall) by vote share in 2010, later finishing third in the
2011 Welsh Assembly elections.
Wales has a number of smaller parties which, again, do not tend to make much impact in the general elections. In 2015, the Labour Party continued to dominate Welsh politics at the general elections.
Pacts and possible coalitions
Coalitions have been rare in the United Kingdom, because the first-past-the-post system has usually led to one party winning an overall majority in the Commons. However, with the outgoing Government being a coalition and with opinion polls not showing a large or consistent lead for any one party, there was much discussion about possible post-election coalitions or other arrangements, such as
confidence and supply
In a parliamentary democracy based on the Westminster system, confidence and supply are required for a ruling cabinet to retain power in the lower house.
A confidence-and-supply agreement is one whereby a party or independent members of par ...
agreements.
Some UK political parties that only stand in part of the country have reciprocal relationships with parties standing in other parts of the country. These include:
* Labour (in Great Britain) and SDLP (in Northern Ireland)
* Liberal Democrats (in Great Britain) and Alliance (in Northern Ireland)
* SNP (in Scotland) and Plaid Cymru (in Wales)
** Plaid Cymru also recommended supporters in England to vote Green, while the SNP leader
Nicola Sturgeon said she would vote for Plaid Cymru were she in Wales, and Green were she in England. However, Sturgeon also said that, if their candidate was the most progressive, she would vote for Labour were she in England.
* Green Party of England and Wales (in England and Wales), Scottish Greens (in Scotland) and the Green Party in Northern Ireland (in Northern Ireland)
On 17 March 2015 the Democratic Unionist Party and the Ulster Unionist Party agreed an election pact, whereby the DUP would not stand candidates in
Fermanagh and South Tyrone (where
Michelle Gildernew, the
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur G ...
candidate, won by only four votes in 2010) and in
Newry and Armagh. In return the UUP would stand aside in
Belfast East and
Belfast North. The SDLP rejected a similar pact suggested by Sinn Féin to try to ensure that an agreed nationalist would win that constituency. The DUP also called on voters in Scotland to support whichever pro-Union candidate was best placed to beat the SNP.
Candidates
The deadline for parties and individuals to file candidate nomination papers to the
acting returning officer (and the deadline for candidates to withdraw) was 4 p.m. on 9 April 2015.
The total number of candidates was 3,971; the second-highest number in history, slightly down from the record 4,150 candidates at the last election in 2010.
There were a record number of female candidates standing in terms of both absolute numbers and percentage of candidates: 1,020 (26.1%) in 2015, up from 854 (21.1%) in 2010.
The proportion of female candidates for major parties ranged from 41% of
Alliance Party candidates to 12% of UKIP candidates.
According to UCL's Parliamentary Candidates UK project
[Parliamentary Candidates UK](_blank)
, School of Public Policy, University College London. Retrieved 25 September 2015. the major parties had the following percentages of
black
Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ...
and ethnic minority candidates: the Conservatives 11%, the Liberal Democrats 10%, Labour 9%, UKIP 6%, the Greens 4%.
The average age of the candidates for the seven major parties was 45.
The youngest candidates were all aged 18: Solomon Curtis (Labour,
Wealden); Niamh McCarthy (Independent,
Liverpool Wavertree
Liverpool Wavertree is a borough constituency of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1997 and every election since has been won by a Labour Party candidate.
An earlier constituency of the same name existed between 1918 and ...
); Michael Burrows (UKIP,
Inverclyde
Inverclyde ( sco, Inerclyde, gd, Inbhir Chluaidh, , "mouth of the Clyde") is one of 32 council areas used for local government in Scotland. Together with the East Renfrewshire and Renfrewshire council areas, Inverclyde forms part of the hist ...
); Declan Lloyd (Labour,
South East Cornwall); and Laura-Jane Rossington (
Communist Party
A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...
,
Plymouth Sutton and Devonport).
The oldest candidate was Doris Osen, 84, of the Elderly Persons' Independent Party (EPIC), who was standing in
Ilford North.
Other candidates aged over 80 included three long-serving Labour MPs standing for re-election:
Sir Gerald Kaufman
Sir Gerald Bernard Kaufman (21 June 1930 – 26 February 2017) was a British politician and author who served as a minister throughout the Labour government of 1974 to 1979. Elected as a member of parliament (MP) at the 1970 general election, ...
(aged 84;
Manchester Gorton),
Dennis Skinner
Dennis Edward Skinner (born 11 February 1932) is a British former politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Bolsover for 49 years, from 1970 to 2019. He is a member of the Labour Party.
Known for his left-wing views and acerbic w ...
(aged 83;
Bolsover
Bolsover is a market town and the administrative centre of the Bolsover District, Derbyshire, England. It is from London, from Sheffield, from Nottingham and from Derby. It is the main town in the Bolsover district.
The civil parish for th ...
) and
David Winnick
David Julian Winnick (born 26 June 1933) is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Walsall North between 1979 and 2017, he was also the MP for Croydon South from 1966 to 1970.
Early life
Born into a Britis ...
(aged 81;
Walsall North).
A number of candidates—including two for Labour and two for UKIP – were suspended from their respective parties after nominations were closed. Independent candidate
Ronnie Carroll
Ronnie Carroll (born Ronald Cleghorn; 18 August 1934 – 13 April 2015) was a Northern Irish singer, entertainer and political candidate.
Career
Carroll was born Ronald Cleghorn in 116 Roslyn Street, Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 1934, the son o ...
died after nominations were closed.
Campaign
By party
Conservative
David Cameron launched the Conservative campaign in
Chippenham on 30 March.
Labour
The Labour campaign was launched on 27 March at
Olympic Park
An Olympic Park is a sports campus for hosting the Olympic Games. Typically it contains the Olympic Stadium and the International Broadcast Centre. It may also contain the Olympic Village or some of the other sports venues, such as the aquatics ...
in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
.
Ed Miliband's EdStone
The "EdStone" was a large stone tablet which was commissioned by the Labour Party during the 2015 United Kingdom general election. The stone was tall and featured six election pledges carved into it, together with the Labour logo, and a cop ...
was a major feature of the campaign which was covered by the media.
Deputy Leader of the Labour Party Harriet Harman
Harriet Ruth Harman (born 30 July 1950) is a British politician and solicitor who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Camberwell and Peckham, formerly Peckham, since 1982. A member of the Labour Party, she has served in various Cabi ...
embarked on a pink bus tour as part of her
Woman to Woman campaign.
Issues
Constitutional affairs
The Conservative manifesto committed to "a straight in-out referendum on our membership of the European Union by the end of 2017". Labour did not support this, but did commit to an EU membership referendum if any further powers were transferred to the European Union. The Lib Dems also supported the Labour position, but explicitly supported the UK's continuing membership of the EU.
The election was the first following the
2014 Scottish independence referendum. None of the three major party manifestos supported a second referendum and the Conservative manifesto stated that "the question of Scotland's place in the United Kingdom is now settled". In the run-up to the election,
David Cameron coined the phrase "Carlisle principle" for the idea that checks and balances are required to ensure that
devolution to Scotland has no adverse effects on other parts of the United Kingdom.
The phrase references a fear that
Carlisle, being the English town closest to the Scottish border, could be affected economically by preferential
tax rates in Scotland.
Government finance
The deficit, who was responsible for it and plans to deal with it were a major theme of the campaign. While some smaller parties opposed austerity,
the Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats and UKIP all supported some further cuts, albeit to different extents.
Conservative campaigning sought to blame the deficit on the previous Labour government. Labour, in return, sought to establish their fiscal responsibility. With the Conservatives also making several spending commitments (''e.g.'' on the NHS), commentators talked of the two main parties' "political crossdressing", each trying to campaign on the other's traditional territory.
Possibility of a hung Parliament
Hung Parliament
A hung parliament is a term used in legislatures primarily under the Westminster system to describe a situation in which no single political party or pre-existing coalition (also known as an alliance or bloc) has an absolute majority of legisla ...
s have been unusual in post-War British political history, but with the outgoing Government a coalition and opinion polls not showing a large or consistent lead for any one party, it was widely expected and predicted throughout the election campaign that no party would gain an overall majority, which could have led to a new coalition or other arrangements such as
confidence and supply
In a parliamentary democracy based on the Westminster system, confidence and supply are required for a ruling cabinet to retain power in the lower house.
A confidence-and-supply agreement is one whereby a party or independent members of par ...
agreements.
This was also associated with a rise in multi-party politics, with increased support for UKIP, the SNP and the Greens.
The question of what the different parties would do in the event of a hung result dominated much of the campaign. Smaller parties focused on the power this would bring them in negotiations; Labour and the Conservatives both insisted that they were working towards winning a majority government, while they were also reported to be preparing for the possibility of a second election in the year.
In practice, Labour were prepared to make a "broad" offer to the Liberal Democrats in the event of a hung Parliament.
Most predictions saw Labour as having more potential support in Parliament than the Conservatives, with several parties, notably the SNP, having committed to keeping out a Conservative government.
The Conservatives described a potential Labour-led hung parliament as a "coalition of chaos", and David Cameron described (in a
tweet) the electoral choice as one between "stable and strong government with me, or chaos with Ed Miliband". The political turmoil in Britain in the wake of the 2015 election has since made the tweet "infamous".
Conservative campaigning sought to highlight what they described as the dangers of a minority Labour administration supported by the SNP. This proved effective at dominating the agenda of the campaign
and at motivating voters to support them.
[Causes and implications of the Liberal Democrats' 2015 election result](_blank)
, inside-politics.org, 23 May 2015. Retrieved 25 September 2015. The Conservative victory was "widely put down to the success of the anti-Labour/SNP warnings", according to a BBC article and others. Labour, in reaction, produced ever stronger denials that they would co-operate with the SNP after the election.
The Conservatives and Lib Dems both also rejected the idea of a coalition with the SNP.
This was particularly notable for Labour, to whom the SNP had previously offered support: their manifesto stated that "the SNP will never put the Tories into power. Instead, if there is an anti-Tory majority after the election, we will offer to work with other parties to keep the Tories out". SNP leader
Nicola Sturgeon later confirmed in the
Scottish leaders' debate on STV that she was prepared to "help make
Ed Miliband
Edward Samuel "Ed" Miliband (born 24 December 1969) is a British politician serving as Shadow Secretary of State for Climate Change and Net Zero since 2021. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Doncaster North since 2005. Miliban ...
prime minister". However, on 26 April, Miliband ruled out a confidence and supply arrangement with the SNP too. Miliband's comments suggested to many that he was working towards forming a minority government.
The Liberal Democrats said that they would talk first to whichever party won the most seats. They later campaigned on being a stabilising influence should either the Conservatives or Labour fall short of a majority, with the slogan "We will bring a heart to a Conservative Government and a brain to a Labour one".
Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats ruled out coalitions with UKIP.
Ruth Davidson
Ruth Elizabeth Davidson, Baroness Davidson of Lundin Links (born 10 November 1978), is a Scottish politician who served as Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party from 2011 to 2019 and Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party in the Scottish ...
, leader of the Scottish Conservatives, asked about a deal with UKIP in the Scottish leaders' debate, replied: "No deals with UKIP." She continued that her preference and the Prime Minister's preference in a hung Parliament was for a minority Conservative government. UKIP said they could have supported a minority Conservative government through a confidence and supply arrangement in return for a
referendum on EU membership before Christmas 2015. They also spoke of the DUP joining UKIP in this arrangement. UKIP and DUP said they would work together in Parliament.
The DUP welcomed the possibility of a hung Parliament and the influence that this would bring them.
The party's deputy leader,
Nigel Dodds
Nigel Alexander Dodds, Baron Dodds of Duncairn, (born 20 August 1958), is a British unionist politician who has been the Leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in the House of Lords since 2021, and was the deputy leader of the DUP ...
, said the party could work with the Conservatives or Labour, but that the party is "not interested in a full-blown coalition government". Their leader,
Peter Robinson, said that the DUP would talk first to whichever party wins the most seats.
The DUP said they wanted, for their support, a commitment to 2% defence spending, a referendum on EU membership, and a reversal of the
under-occupation penalty. They opposed the SNP being involved in government. The UUP also indicated that they would not work with the SNP if it wanted another independence referendum in Scotland.
The Green Party of England & Wales, Plaid Cymru and the Scottish National Party all ruled out working with the Conservatives, and agreed to work together "wherever possible" to counter austerity.
Each would also make it a condition of any agreement with Labour that
Trident
A trident is a three- pronged spear. It is used for spear fishing and historically as a polearm.
The trident is the weapon of Poseidon, or Neptune, the God of the Sea in classical mythology. The trident may occasionally be held by other mari ...
nuclear weapons was not replaced; the Green Party of England and Wales stated that "austerity is a red line".
Both Plaid Cymru and the Green Party stated a preference for a
confidence and supply
In a parliamentary democracy based on the Westminster system, confidence and supply are required for a ruling cabinet to retain power in the lower house.
A confidence-and-supply agreement is one whereby a party or independent members of par ...
arrangement with Labour, rather than a coalition.
The leader of the SDLP,
Alasdair McDonnell, said: "We will be the left-of-centre backbone of a Labour administration" and that "the SDLP will categorically refuse to support
David Cameron and the Conservative Party".
Sinn Féin reiterated their
abstentionist
Abstentionism is standing for election to a deliberative assembly while refusing to take up any seats won or otherwise participate in the assembly's business. Abstentionism differs from an election boycott in that abstentionists participate in ...
stance.
In the event the Conservatives did secure an overall majority, rendering much of the speculation and positioning moot.
Television debates
The first series of televised
leaders' debates in the United Kingdom was held in the
previous election. Following much debate and various proposals,
a seven-way debate with the leaders of Labour, the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, UKIP, Greens, SNP and Plaid Cymru was held. with a series of other debates involving some of the parties.
The campaign was notable for a reduction in the number of party posters on
roadside hoardings. It was suggested that 2015 saw "the death of the campaign poster".
Endorsements
Various newspapers, organisations and individuals endorsed parties or individual candidates for the election. For example, the main national newspapers gave the following endorsements:
National daily newspapers
National Sunday newspapers
Media coverage
Despite speculation that the 2015 general election would be the '
social media
Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...
election',
traditional media
Old media, or legacy media, are the mass media institutions that dominated prior to the Information Age; particularly print media, film studios, music studios, advertising agencies, radio broadcasting, and television.
Old media institutions ar ...
, particularly
broadcast media
Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting began wi ...
, remained more influential than new
digital platforms.
[D. Deacon, J. Downey, J. Stanyer and D. Wring, 'News media performance in the 2015 General Election campaign' in D. Jackson and E. Thorsen (eds) ]
UK Election Analysis 2015: Media, Voters and the Campaign
'' (May 2015). Centre for the Study of Journalism, Culture and Community A majority of the public (62%) reported that TV coverage had been most influential for informing them during the election period, especially
televised debates between politicians.
[E. Thelwell,]
Election 2015: TV debates 'most influential' for voters
' (09/05/15) on BBC News Newspaper
A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as p ...
s were next most influential, with the ''
Daily Mail'' influencing people's opinions most (30%), followed by ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' (21%) and ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...
'' (20%).
Online, major media outlets—like
BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...
, newspaper websites, and
Sky News—were most influential.
Social media was regarded less influential than
radio
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmi ...
and conversations with friends and family.
During the campaign, TV news coverage was dominated by
horse race journalism, focusing on the how close Labour and the Conservatives (supposedly) were
according to the polls, and speculation on possible
coalition outcomes.
[S. Cushion and R. Sambrook 'The 'horse-race' contest dominated TV news election coverage' in D. Jackson and E. Thorsen (eds) ]
UK Election Analysis 2015: Media, Voters and the Campaign
'' (May 2015). Centre for the Study of Journalism, Culture and Community This '
meta-coverage' was seen to squeeze out other content, namely policy.
Policy received less than half of election news airtime across all five main TV broadcasters (
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