By Faisal Islam, Political Editor
Britain's next Prime Minister might not be the leader of the party which wins the most seats at the General Election, Britain's former top civil servant has told Sky News.
Lord O'Donnell, who as Cabinet Secretary arranged the negotiations that led to the current Coalition, says that voters should not necessarily expect the 'winner' of the election to lead coalition talks.
And the process this time round could be so complicated - potentially involving a deal with three parties - that it may take "rather longer" than the five days the last agreement took.
:: Click here for the In The Margins console
In an exclusive interview, Lord O'Donnell denied that there would be "political chaos" but said that there could be "an unusual outcome" to the election.
"When the result comes out, some people think that x gets first go," he said.
"There isn't a written constitutional requirement that the party with the most seats go first.
"It's up to the parties to negotiate."
Lord O'Donnell was speaking as Sky News launched its multi-media project In The Margins, in which we will focus on the 150 marginal constituencies that could decide the outcome of the election in May.
When asked if voters should expect the leader of the largest party to be Prime Minister, he said: "There's no constitutional requirement for that to happen, so it could well be that we do have a situation where the Prime Minister is leader of a party which has fewer seats than one of the others."
The former top civil servant says that such outcomes were the "inevitable consequence" of voters not concentrating their vote on the two main parties.
"It's a more complex world... People should be ready for the fact that it might take rather longer to form a government than the five days last time."
Negotiations of the formation of a Government in May could lead to much looser agreements between parties, simultaneous negotiations, and more "agreements to disagree" warned Lord O'Donnell.
In 2015, the fixed term parliament, pre-election media scrutiny of 'red lines', the requirement of party leaders to get the backing of backbenchers and the lack of a market crisis, might all require "patience".
"It may be a rather more complicated situation: an agreement with two parties and a side deal with SNP on a case by case basis ... When I look back on [2010] I think I had it easy."
The Cabinet Manual, published in 2011, did not have any reference to the so-called Clegg rule. In 2010 the Lib Dem leader decided that first negotiations should occur with the strongest party in the House of Commons.
:: Follow Sky News presenters and correspondents through the day as we launch In The Margins - examining 150 key seats across the country that could help decide the election. Watch live on Sky News, skynews.com and our mobile apps - channels Sky 501, Virgin Media 602, Freesat 202, Freeview 132.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Election 'Winner' May Not Get Keys To No 10
Dengan url
http://terjunbebasopan.blogspot.com/2015/01/election-winner-may-not-get-keys-to-no.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Election 'Winner' May Not Get Keys To No 10
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Election 'Winner' May Not Get Keys To No 10
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar