The 2015 elections at United Kingdom sprang up a surprise when, contrary to expectations of political pundits, the Conservatives under the leadership of the incumbent Prime Minister David Cameron won by a simple majority. Requiring 326 seats for a simple majority in the 650 seats British Parliament, the Tories won 331 seats, which has allowed them to take charge of the country without the support of the Liberal Democrats, with whose support they were in power for the last 5 years. When the Lib Dems faced a near rout, the Labour Party fared below par with 232 seats. The Scottish National Party (SNP) took the election results by storm, winning 56 out of 59 seats in Scotland. Left-wing Green Party and the right-wing United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) have won 1 seat each.

Scotland had always been one of the historic heartlands of the Labour Party, but the emergence of Scottish National Party as the main voice of the Scots has made sure that the Labour lost big time in that country. Though the SNP was unable to convince the Scots that separation from United Kingdom was for their benefit during the referendum, they had made strong inroads in the minds of the Scottish people, which was made all the more evident from their strong electoral show in the country. The SNP has made sure that the voice of the Scottish people would be heard loud at Westminster. 

Liberal minds of United Kingdom would heave a sigh of relief on finding that the UKIP has got just one seat in the election. The right-wing, anti-immigration party was very vocal in their policies and ideas against immigration and immigrants. They had also called for UK’s independence from the European Union. It is heartening to know that the space for the extreme right in UK politics is still quite narrow. Even UKIP leader Nigel Farage failed to win the elections as only Douglas Carswell was able to win it for the party. The party won a vote share of 13%, which would roughly come around 3.8 million votes.

One of the main issues on which the election was fought was the economy. Big budgetary deficit of UK has been an issue that was in the minds of every party. The Tories and the Labour had been promising people that they will cut the budgetary deficits to manageable levels and even create a surplus by the end of the term of the Parliament. Parties also promised increase in employment opportunities or jobs for all who are willing to work. While the Conservatives pledged a tripling of loans to business start-ups, Labour promised to raise minimum wages from the existing level.

Membership in European Union is a contentious issue in United Kingdom. The Tories promised to hold an “in-out” referendum on Britain’s renegotiated EU membership by 2017. At the same time the Labour party promised that they would guarantee no transfer of power from Britain to the EU without a referendum.

Britain’s growing economy has been attracting many skilled and un-skilled employees to it, mostly from other countries in the European Union. There is a growing sense of discontent among native Brits on the influx of immigrants and the right-wing UKIP has been at the forefront in making use of this for political gains. Labour had promised to ban recruitment agencies that recruit only from other countries, whereas the Conservatives claimed that they will reduce immigration by making it difficult to immigrants to gain benefits in UK.

Now that David Cameron has a clear mandate to govern Britain he can longer use the excuse of coalition pressure to not act on his promises. However he would surely be tested on many fronts. Thumping win that the SNP has achieved in Scotland would embolden them and Cameron will have his task cut out in managing their aspirations vis-a-vis another referendum on the Scotland question. He will also have to take immediate action to reduce the budget deficit, bring back the economy on track, settle the EU predicament, find amicable solution to the immigration issue and set his foreign policy priorities. He may also have to fend off in-party challenge from the backbenchers and move on with his agenda.

At the same time Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats have to find new leaders and chart out a plan to get back to the reckoning in the minds of the Brits. The Labour Party has to find a replacement for Ed Miliband after he resigned from the leadership of the party after the terrible loss. The centre-leftist party must regain its lost ground in UK, particularly in Scotland, where it has ceded ground to SNP. Nick Clegg of the Lib Dems has relinquished his leadership of the party and now the party should also defenestrate the neo-liberalism expounded by Nick Clegg and co. and regain their social democratic heritage, if they want to remain relevant in UK.