UKC

I don't get the reporting on the election.

To me, the natural coalitions would be [Con + Lib Dem + UKIP] vs [Labour + SNP + Plaid Cymru + Green].

Looks so far like the Conservatives have 22 more seats, Lib Dems have 45 less, and UKIPs have 1 less. Can't see numbers for the UDP, but I assume they're fairly static.

Labour have lost 23, SNP has gained 50, and Green stayed the same. Again, not seeing any numbers for Plaid Cymru either.

But that would mean the blue team has lost about 24 seats, and the red team has gained 27. What am I missing?

In reply to humptydumpty:

They are predicting a Tory majority aren't they? They won't need any support, in theory.

In reply to Phil1919:

Yeah, I see that now. Obviously a stupid question, in that case.

In reply to humptydumpty:

but you're right, the Tory majority will be much smaller than the Coalition majority last time, and they'll be much more vulnerable to back-bench rebellions. They know this of course, hence the stuff about "one nation" this morning, trying to stay within voting distance of the Lib Dems.

In reply to humptydumpty:

The problem with FPTP... The blues get a 0.8% increase in support nationally since 2010, but an ~8% increase in seats...

In reply to mal_meech:

The problem with FPTP... The blues get a 0.8% increase in support nationally since 2010, but an ~8% increase in seats...

and UKIP had nearly as many votes as the SNP and the Lib Dems put together...

In reply to FactorXXX:

But you could only vote for the SNP in 50 odd seats out of more than 600.

In reply to Phil1919:

Exactly, us Scots have 50 odd seats, the same as Manchester and 20 odd less than London... The right number for our population, just happens there is a separate party with majority support here. I just hope the SNP play a federal approach within Westminster, so we get some change in representation for all of the uk, rather than being tarnished as silly Scots just interested in themselves... Given the age of many of them not sure that will happen though...

In reply to Phil1919:

But you could only vote for the SNP in 50 odd seats out of more than 600.

Not sure what that's got to with it.
My comment was more to demonstrate how FPTP can favourably return seats to a particular party/parties, despite them having relatively low support compared to a party that only got one seat. It was also in response to mal_meech, who seemed to criticise FPTP for 'giving' the Conservatives more seats than they should have.
If PR had been in operation, how many seats would each party get? In particular, how many would PR's biggest advocate the Lib Dems have got...