Will the system be different by 2020?
Peter Byrne/PA Wire
Parliamentary log-jam, unwilling backbenchers and Conservative preference for first-past-the-post make reform unlikely.
Ed Miliband’s Labour Party gained a swing twice as big as the Conservatives did but lost seats, leading him to resign.
EPA/Facundo Arrizabalaga
Labour, UKIP and the Greens all gained much bigger swings than the Conservatives, but were election losers. The first-past-the-post system let the Tories pick up a swag of seats with a 0.8% swing.
And the contenders for Labour leader are…
PA/PA Wire
Three parties must now choose new leaders. Labour has a number of candidates jockeying for position.
UKIP won 12.6% of the vote share, but only one seat – not Nigel Farage’s.
Hannah McKay/EPA
With 63% of the country not voting Tory, the result throws up its own question of legitimacy.
A new era.
Robert Perry/EPA
The Conservative Party looks set to do even better than the surprising exit polls predicted, but the real glory in this election lies with the small parties. The SNP have virtually wiped the main parties…
Who knew?
Stefan Rousseau/PA
Result defies all predictions, putting Conservatives significantly ahead of Labour.
All smiles for the Conservatives.
Andy Rain/EPA
May 7, 2015
Fran Amery , University of Bath ; Catherine Happer , University of Glasgow ; Charles Lees , University of Bath ; Craig McAngus , University of Stirling ; David Cutts , University of Bath ; Eric Shaw , University of Stirling ; Jennifer Thomson , Queen Mary University of London ; John Van Reenen , London School of Economics and Political Science ; Jonathan Tonge , University of Liverpool ; Louise Thompson , University of Surrey ; Michael Saward , University of Warwick ; Neil Matthews , Queen's University Belfast ; Peter Lynch , University of Stirling ; Rainbow Murray , Queen Mary University of London ; Roger Awan-Scully , Cardiff University ; Sophie Whiting , University of Liverpool ; Stuart Wilks-Heeg , University of Liverpool , and Victoria Honeyman , University of Leeds
Experts provide a rolling response, live as the results come in for the 2015 general election.
Nicola Sturgeon’s Scottish National Party has rebounded from the referendum defeat to emerge as the likely third-biggest party and kingmaker in the UK parliament.
AAP/Newzulu/Brian Duffy
Last year’s independence referendum failed narrowly, but the Scottish electorate has emerged as a force that may well decide who forms the next British government.
No Mr Juncker, you can’t persuade me.
Patrick Seeger/EPA
Nigel Farage has argued that the EU is a millstone around Britain’s neck when it comes to trade.
Italy’s Lega Nord scores a victory in parliament.
EPA/Ettore Ferrari
It might actually be better for the Conservatives to work with Nigel Farage in government.
Would-be Europeans, survivors of a Mediterranean crossing gone wrong
Darrin Zammit/Reuters
German philosopher Jurgen Habermas once famously pronounced the European Union a force for good: A model for what he described as a “cosmopolitan world order.” The Nobel committee agreed and in 2012 awarded…
Good deeds don’t always work out that way.
Nailia Schwartz
Politicians promising to expand free childcare is no bad thing, but it is difficult to deliver in practice
You’re right to look sceptical – a Brexit will be difficult at best, impossible at worst.
Andy Rain
UKIP’s whole manifesto rests on the premise that the UK will leave the EU.
Tell us what you really think.
Image via www.shutterstock.com
Surprise! Almost everyone supports gay marriage (even UKIP voters).
Night comes to the estuary.
Peter Scrimshaw/Geograph
UKIP is on the march in the Thames estuary – in a seat that hardly resembles its stereotypical territory at all.
UK politics is no longer a political tango for two, as this party leaders’ debate illustrated.
EPA/Ken McKay/ITV/Rex
Voters in the UK are again looking beyond the traditional two-party system and look set to put paid to a famous proposition of political science.
The UKIP manifesto says crime is not a “lifestyle option” that they will tolerate.
Andrew Milligan/PA
UKIP’s pledges on crime reflect their core values: populism, and leaving the EU.
Pondering Prime Minister Miliband?
Drew Angerer?EPA
The press doesn’t have as much sway with voters as it once did, but it still sets the boundaries of debate.
A Brexit is UKIP’s big selling point, but an EU withdrawal isn’t as popular as they think.
Yves Logghe/PA
UKIP’s clear belief that the UK public wants out of the EU isn’t based on facts.
There are nationalists, and then there are nationalists.
Stefan Rousseau/PA
The SNP, Plaid Cymru and UKIP are the new faces in the UK election in 2015 but they reflect a wider change.