Offering opportunity...

---

So, a coalition of sorts?  Will 'winner' David Cameron's offer be accepted?

While that's being sorted here are some interesting facts and figures, not just from this year's election (millions rounded!):

• After the debates and 'Cleggmania' the Lib Dems look like they crashed and burned yet they got one million MORE votes than 2005...and 5 fewer seats (D'oh, anyone looking in from elsewhere will just not understand this).
• In England Labour won 7 million votes and got 191 seats; the Lib Dems won 6 million votes and got only 43 seats.
• In Scotland Labour won 41 seats with only one million votes; the other parties got 1.4 million votes and share 18 seats.
• Below the Severn-Wash line (SE, SW and Eastern England), out of 195 seats Labour won only TEN (excluding London).
• In 2005 Tony Blair got more than one million FEWER votes than David Cameron did yesterday but he had 50 MORE seats.
• Michael Howard losing in 2005 got 100,000 votes more than Labour did yesterday but Labour have 60 more seats than Howard did.
• Tony Blair's 'massive landslide' in 1997 was with less of the popular vote than John Major in 1992 and Margaret Thatcher in 1987.
• Neil Kinnock's 'disaster' in 1992 was with almost a million MORE votes than David Cameron won yesterday.
• In John Major's Conservative 'slaughter' in 1997 he got MORE votes than Tony Blair won in 2005.

I could go on all night but it really does highlight what a shit system it really is. The fact that this year voters were turned away just makes matters worse but will some sort of PR deal be worked out or a referendum on electoral reform be offered? I doubt it. Note that in a poll today "86% of Tory members prefer minority government to coalition." [Link]

P.S. well done to the Greens: your first ever UK MP, Caroline Lucas in Brighton. Overall the Green Party got 285,616 votes; this is 100,000 votes MORE than Sinn Fein or Plaid Cymru BUT these parties got 5 and 3 seats respectively. However, UKIP got nigh-on a million votes (917,832) but no seats and the BNP got 563,743 votes and no seats. Go figure.