Britain votes on Thursday in a general election that is predicted to throw up a fractured result in which no party will get an absolute majority. A total of 3971 candidates — 26 per cent of who are women — will contest for 650 parliamentary seats.
The election brings to an end a hard-fought and colourful campaign marked by strong disagreements and illuminating engagement among parties and candidates.
Key issues
Debates have raged and points scored in television studios and on public platforms over the economy; the future of the National Health Service; the impact on people’s welfare owing to cutbacks in social sector budgets; the question of immigration; Britain’s position and role in the European Union; and much else.
For all the choice on offer, voter preferences however have remained stubbornly the same over the last few months. The latest BBC Poll of Polls shows the Conservatives a point ahead of Labour at 34 per cent, Labour at 33, Liberal Democrats at eight, the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) at 13, the Green Party at five, and Others (which include the Scottish National Party) at 6.
The seat forecast, however, in a first-past-the-post election is very different. For example, the SNP, with just four per cent of the vote-share is predicted to win over 50 seats, while the UKIP with 13 per cent vote-share is predicted to win just one seat.
The latest seat forecast, as published on the website electionforecast.co.uk shows the Conservatives winning 281, Labour 256, SNP 52, Green Party 1, UKIP 3, Lib Dems 28.
Records are expected to be broken. This election is likely to see the biggest historical decline in the vote share held by the two largest parties; Labour will receive its lowest ever share of the Scottish vote; and the election will see the largest ever swing to the SNP.
Minority candidates
There are 93 Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority (BME) candidates standing from the Conservative, Labour and Lib Dem parties, an improvement from the last election, though still not representative of the numbers of BME in the general population. There are 158 British-Asian candidates across all parties (111 men and 47 women).
Voting in England is still done the old-fashioned way of crossing a box with a pencil tied by string to a table (in case it is pocketed by a voter). Polling stations will remain open from 7 a.m. (11.30 am IST) to 10 p.m.
The results of the much-awaited exit poll — the largest of all the polls done so far with a sample size of 16000 — will be announced at 10 p.m. The first result comes in by 11 p.m. with a big surge in results after 2 a.m. on May 8.
Fact files
Poll predictions
- Conservative ( 35% )
- Labour ( 34% )
- Liberal Democrats ( 9% )
- UKIP ( 12% )
- Green party ( 5% )
- Others ( 6% )
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- Did you know that voters could be voting in this UK election? They make up the biggest share of all foreign born voters.
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- The UK's voter's are: the economy, health (especially future of NHS), immigration & asylum, and welfare benefits.
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Britain votes on May 7. Final results are out early on May 8.
Share of migrant voters in London
London has by far the largest migrant vote; some constituencies here have electorates with over 50% foreign-born . (Hover-over constituency for more details)
Indians to look out for
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| Virender Sharma , | Priti Patel , Conservative candidate from Witham | Seema Malhotra , Labour candidate for Feltham and Heston | Rishi Sunak , Conservative candidate, Richmond (Yorks) | Keith Vaz , |
Party stand on immigration
Conservative
- Migrants to wait four years before they can claim benefits
- Remove those that have failed to find work within six months
- Bring net migration down to below 1,00,000 people a year
- Renegotiate EU rules on free movement of workers
Labour
- Stronger border controls with more entry-exit checks
- Controls to stop low-skilled immigrants – top talent only
- Migrants to wait two years before claiming benefits
- Fines for employing illegal immigrants to be increased
UKIP
- Migrants should only qualify for benefits if they have paid tax and National Insurance for five years
- Migrants only entitled to permanent residence after 10 years
- Cut net migration down to 50,000 people a year
Liberal Democrats
- Universal credit for migrants only after working for six months
- Benefits only to migrants working for equivalent of 35-hour week on minimum wage
SNP
- Scotland's devolved government to have control over immigration
- Look at ways to attract high-skilled immigrants
Green
- Reduce immigration controls
- Illegal migrants can stay in UK after five years
- More legal rights for asylum seekers
