Bookies predict another general election this year
As the UK gets to grips with the news of a hung parliament, bookies are predicting the country will have to go to the polls for a second time in 2017.
Despite early predictions of a landslide victory, Theresa May’s party failed to win an outright majority.
She will visit the Queen at 12.30 today to seek permission to form a government, propped up by an unofficial pact with the DUP.
This would leave her with a decidedly flimsily majority, putting the government at risk of crumbling before it gets going.
And in news that will pierce the hearts of a nation suffering from major election fatigue, it’s looking likely that we might have another election before the end of the year.
Bookmakers Paddy Power have released their latest odds on when we’ll next head to the ballot box.
This year has the shortest odds, on 5/4.
Another election in 2018 is also pretty likely on 9/2, as is 2019 on 9/2.
Despite suffering a devastating night of losses where the decision to gamble on a snap election backfired spectacularly, Theresa May insisted that her party would provide Britain with ‘post-election stability’.
But calls for her resignation are growing louder as finger-pointing Tories scramble to distance themselves from her campaign.
When the exit polls predicting a hung parliament were announced, former shadow Chancellor Ed Balls predicted that the outcome would mean another general election in 2017.
He told ITV: “If this is correct we’ll have another general election soon.”
In order to avoid another election the Tories will have to create a coalition with another party or rule as a minority party.
Last night the Liberal Democrats appeared to rule out a formal, or informal, coalition with Labour or the Conservatives.
Lib Dem president Baroness Brinton said her party could not work with either Labour or the Tories as both are pushing for a “hard Brexit”.
She told Sky News: “A coalition is not on the cards, not just because of the 2015 result but because of big policy differences.”