UK Faces Hung Parliament

The majority of votes are in for the UK general election and predictions show that Britain faces its first hung parliament since 1974.

With the votes that have already been accounted for it is apparent that the Tories will be the largest party and Labour can no longer win a majority.

However what is not clear is which party will be in a position to govern the country.

The BBC projection suggests David Cameron's Conservatives will have 306 seats. If there are 10 Unionists elected in Northern Ireland then Mr Cameron might be able to command 316 - probably still slightly too few for him to be sure of winning a Queen's Speech.

But Labour and the Lib Dems together would have 317 seats, according to the BBC figures, which even with three SDLP MPs would still leave them at 320 - again probably just a few votes short.

Senior Labour figures have said that under the rules of Britain's constitution, the sitting prime minister in a hung parliament makes the first attempt at forming a ruling coalition.

Business Secretary Lord Mandelson said Mr Brown had returned to Number 10, and was going to rest and "catch his breath" adding: "We have to be patient for some time more."

This is the last thing that either Mr Cameron or the Prime Minister wanted to happen, because having to compromise with a third party, in this case the Liberal Democrats, would, they believe, dilute their own policies, and weaken the battle to end the recession and clear the deficit.

Mr Cameron said early in the night on the basis of the exit poll (Conservatives 305, Labour 255, Liberal Democrats 61, and Others 29) he would be able to govern, despite being short of an overall majority. He would, in fact, be daring his opponents to vote down the Tories' first budget.

However, it is more than likely, in these circumstances, that Mr Brown, as the incumbent Prime Minister, would try to reach a deal with the Liberal Democrats to achieve a partnership in the Commons which would outvote the Conservatives.

But shadow schools secretary Michael Gove said voters would not be "entirely happy" if Mr Brown "after a defeat like this, were to try to cling on and try to form some sort of coalition of the defeated, some sort of alliance of the dispossessed."

(LB/GK)