2015 United Kingdom general election

The 2014 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 8 May 2014 to elect 650 members to the House of Commons. Local elections took place in most areas on the same day.

Polls and commentators had predicted the outcome would be too close to call and would result in a hung parliament, likely with the Conservatives as the largest party. Opinion polls were eventually proven to have underestimated the Conservative vote as the party, led by Prime Minister David Cameron, having won the 2009 general election with a landslide majority, suffered a net loss of only 42, despite a decrease in vote share by 2.7%, giving the party a majority of 62, albeit much reduced from the 144 majority they had enjoyed after 2009. National newspapers overwhelmingly backed the Conservatives, such as The Sun, which encouraged voters to vote Conservative to keep "Red Ed", as the Labour leader was termed, out.

The Labour Party, had been led by Ed Miliband who had succeeded Gordon Brown following his resignation after the 2009 general election. Under his leadership, the party had moved leftwards away from New Labour to Miliband's own ideology, "One Nation Labour", based upon opposition to austerity, privatisation and deregulation, whilst also campaigning on some positions more associated with the right-wing, such as restrictions on immigration. In the general election, the party made a net gain of 23 seats, primarily in the North of England. Despite this, the Conservatives dominated Southern England and much of London, with Labour even suffering some losses in the region to the Tories.

The Liberal Democrats saw a recovery in their seat and vote total, under their new leader, Sir Vince Cable, having declined in both respects during the 2009 election, with a net gain of 16 seats, primarily from Conservatives in the South-West and the North, and an increase in vote share by 3.1%. In Northern Ireland, the Ulster Unionist Party returned to the Commons with two MPs after a five-year absence, while the Alliance Party lost its only seat despite an increase in total vote share.

Overview
The Conservative Party had governed with a majority of 144 since the 2009 general election, and was thus looking to secure a second term in power. The Labour Party, under Leader of the Opposition Ed Miliband, sought to retake the seats it had lost in the 2009 election, and move from Opposition into government. The Liberal Democrats, having campaigned under a more centrist platform with the leadership of Nick Clegg, moved back leftwards, targeting specific Conservative seats, primarily in the North and South-West, in the hopes of recovering from their losses in the previous election, which had seen the party lose nearly a third of its MPs. Many smaller parties, both left and right-wing also campaigned in this election. The Green Party mostly focused on the retention of its only seat, Brighton Pavilion, which had been won in the previous election from Labour, as well as targeting other left-wing and environmentalist voters in London and University cities. Meanwhile, the UK Independence Party sought to win over right-wing Conservative voters dissatisfied with the centrist direction of the Cameron government. With increased media coverage, votes and attention given to these small parties, it has been suggested that this election marked a realignment away from the traditional three-party dominance of the past century.

Campaign
Much of the campaign was focused on the economy, which was still recovering from the 2008 financial crash. The Conservatives pledged to continue their programme of austerity to reduce the deficit, with the aim of the UK having a consistent surplus by the end of 2019. Labour also accepted a degree of austerity, albeit to a lesser degree, with Miliband stating that he would begin to reverse the cuts once the UK's debt-to-GDP ratio began to fall. The Liberal Democrats, under Sir Vince Cable, did not support further cuts, promising a 1p increase in income tax to assist with deficit reduction instead.

As opinion polls had not shown a consistent or large lead for any party in the run-up to an election, the possibility of a hung parliament was often discussed by commentators. The Conservatives insisted they were on course for an outright majority, and spent much of the campaign warning against a Labour-led "coalition of chaos" with the Liberal Democrats or nationalist parties such as the SNP, Plaid Cymru, or Sinn Fein. This proved effective at dominating the agenda of the campaign, and motivated many unionist-minded voters both in England and elsewhere to vote for them. Labour, in reaction, produced ever stronger denials that they would co-operate with the SNP after the election. The Conservatives and Lib Dems both also rejected the idea of a coalition with the SNP. This was particularly notable for Labour, to whom the SNP had previously offered support: their manifesto stated that "the SNP will never put the Tories into power. Instead, if there is an anti-Tory majority after the election, we will offer to work with other parties to keep the Tories out". SNP leader Alex Salmond later confirmed in the Scottish leaders' debate on STV that she was prepared to "help make Ed Miliband prime minister". However, on 26 April, Miliband ruled out a confidence and supply arrangement with the SNP too. Miliband's comments suggested to many that he was working towards forming a minority government. The Green Party, Plaid Cymru, and the SDLP all ruled out working with the Tories. In the event, the Conservatives secured an overall majority, rendering much of the speculating and positioning moot.

Controversies
The media, particularly the print media, was accused, both during and after the election campaign, of being heavily biased against Labour in favour of the Conservatives. Reflecting on analysis carried out during the election campaign period, David Deacon of Loughborough University's Communication Research Centre said there was "aggressive partisanship pin] many sections of the national press" which could be seen especially in the "Tory press". Similarly, Steve Barnett, Professor of Communications at the University of Westminster, said that, while partisanship has always been part of British newspaper campaigning, in this election it was "more relentless and more one-sided" in favour of the Conservatives and against Labour and the other parties. Only two of Britain's major newspapers, The Mirror and The Guardian, devoted their main endorsement to Labour, and all other newspapers that took a political stance, with the exception of The Independent, which endorsed a Conservative or Labour coalition with Liberal Democrat involvement, endorsed the Conservatives.

Following the election, the Electoral Commission and the Crown Prosecution Service launched an investigation into the spending of the major parties during the campaign, after which Labour and the Liberal Democrats were both fined £20,000 each, and the Conservatives £70,000, and police investigations took place into potential criminal conduct by 20-30 Tory MPs (although no charges were brought against those investigated in the event).

Debates
The first series of televised leaders' debates in the United Kingdom was held in the previous election. Following much debate and various proposals, a three-way debate was held between Miliband, Cameron and Cable, leaders of Labour, the Conservatives, and the Liberal Democrats respectively, in which Cameron was considered the winner.

A series of one-on-one interviews were also held between each of the three leaders and Jeremy Paxman. In these Miliband was considered to have been the better prepared, with his "Hell yes, I'm tough enough" comment attracting particular attention.

Endorsements
Various newspapers, organisations and individuals endorsed parties or individual candidates for the election. For example, the main national newspapers gave the following endorsements: