[In the Drunk Tank]

Originally Posted by bitontheslide

Correct me if I am wrong, but given that labour have turned down the opportunity of any formal alliance with the snp, the snp numbers cannot be used when it comes to deciding who forms a new government. So labour are going to have to win more seats than the tories outright, or hope that the lib dems dont get wiped out and do a coalition with them.

But the Conservatives probably won't be able to get a Queen's speech through parliament even if it had the support of the Lib Dems so they couldn't form a government either. I actually don't know what happens after that, would there be another election or can Miliband then put forward a Queen's speech even if Labour do not have the most seats in the Commons?

Originally Posted by joeysteele

She will need to get a mandate from the Scottish people to ask for one and get the proposal through the Scottish parliament first again too.

The earliest she could try that,which may be unwise to, is in the Holyrood elections next year,she could put in the SNP manifesto for that election the desire to seek another referendum.
Were she then to get an overall majority in the Scottish parliament, she could then demand same from the UK govt; who again however would have to approve such a referendum.

She couldn't just demand one now without a further mandate from the Scottish electorate.
Which is why no referendum is mentioned in the current SNP manifesto for this UK general election.

I think she will get one eventually in the future, she is there as leader for the next 10 years at least I would say.
With a lot of uncertainty about now however, I cannot see her looking for a referendum until after the next UK general election.
I could see an independence proposal being in the SNP manifesto for Holyrood elections in 2021 but not next year 2016.

See I think their showing next week will embolden them to put something in their manifesto saying something like "we will continue fighting for Scottish independence" or just straight up "we will seek a second referendum" and they will take the risk that their popularity has soared so much that, even if that puts some people off, they will still gain a majority quite comfortably

[bots]

Originally Posted by MTVN

But the Conservatives probably won't be able to get a Queen's speech through parliament even if it had the support of the Lib Dems so they couldn't form a government either. I actually don't know what happens after that, would there be another election or can Miliband then put forward a Queen's speech even if Labour do not have the most seats in the Commons?

I'm not sure what happens either. I'm guessing that it then goes back to coalition building, and if no-one can get a majority together then it goes back to an election.

Of course if the tories had a minority government and wanted to push through a queens speech they may just leave out a wad of legislation for the first speech and hope to get more support later on. Then it descends into ineffectual government that can't do anything.