Editorial: UK election leaves much to be settled

First Minister of Scotland and Scottish National Party leader Nicola Sturgeon. Photo / AP

Opinion

New Zealanders have watched the British general election with a certain deja vu. Britain has found itself with multi-party politics without adopting proportional representation and the results are familiar. An uneasy governing coalition went into the election with the junior partner desperately down in the polls. The opposition Labour Party was trailing its rival but its potential partners were looking capable of getting enough seats to give Labour a coalition - if they would all work together.

Labour said it would not work with the Scottish National Party, so did the Liberal Democrats, who would sooner go with Labour than the Conservatives again. The Conservatives ruled out a deal with the right-wing United Kingdom Independence Party ... All this, of course, before voting day. Both major parties were trying to stop their voters going to new parties on their side of the fence. Now that the votes are in, it is clear the Tories have held their support and Labour has not, particularly in Scotland. The anti-immigration, anti-Europe UK Independence Party has not won enough seats to matter. The Scottish Nationalist Party, however, has made itself matter very much. It has hurt Labour so badly in Scotland that there is no prospect of a Labour-led coalition but the result could have profound consequences for British politics and the constitution of the United Kingdom.

SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon says the result does not reopen the independence issue. Her party has attracted support from Scots on both sides of the issue at last year's referendum. Their decision to remain in the union stands, but they want to be represented in it by a party that put Scotland's interests first on all subjects. That is bound to increase resentment in England and likely to lead to more devolution for all parts of the country.

The SNP provided the pundits' main talking point on election night but it was hard to ignore the achievement of Prime Minister David Cameron. After a lacklustre start to the campaign he had lifted his game and led the Conservatives to a better result than polls predicted. They have clearly won the election, leaving Labour a distant second and their partners, the Liberal Democrats, have been punished for being part of a Government the voters have approved. Go figure, as they say. British commentators are just beginning to grapple with a contradiction New Zealand has come to expect.

Mr Cameron and his party should be a stronger Government for this result. The Government has seen off the challenge of Ukip and while the ruling party has its own internal tensions over Europe, Mr Cameron is in a better position now to see that common sense prevails in his promised referendum on continued membership of the European Union.

The success of the SNP makes it more important for Britain to be in Europe if it wants to remain the UK. Scots nationalists look to the EU for their wider affiliation and a British exit would almost certainly cause Scotland to reconsider its decision last year. Britain has had an election that leaves much to be settled.