UK Election - Quick Thoughts

On the morning after a shocking UK Election result here are a few quick observations on the data. The big winners were the Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) who picked up roughly 50 seats at the expense of Labour and the LibDems and the Conservatives who won an outright small majority and in the process eviscerated their LibDem coalition partners. In 2010 voters backed the LibDems to some extent as a protest against the pro-war and  pro-banker policies of the Blair era Labour.

This time the protest vote went to the SNP in Scotland and the UK Independence Party in England. Ironically, UKIP which picked up hundreds of thousands of votes over 2010 and finished at 13% - got one seat in Parliament. The SNP which runs candidates only in Scotland, swept every district except three and won an additional 50 seats over 2010.

In a manner typical for British politics after a hard fought contest … heads are rolling as the leaders of Labour, LibDems and UKIP all resigned their posts. More on the travails of Labour and challenges for the next government soon.