UK election may force the Tories to adapt Eurosceptic stance

With a Labour victory and Gordon Brown's reelection looking highly unlikely as voting is underway, it is not yet clear what kind of new government, Tory or coalition as a result of a hung parliament, will be formed. With Gordon Brown stating that he will take full responsibility for Labour's election result, what has become absolutely clear is that new political leaders will emerge from this election campaign who will shape UK politics in future years. Besides David Cameron, according to pre-election polls a likely candidate for moving into 10 Downing Street, this is particularly the case for the long-time rising star of Labour David Milliband and for Nick Clegg, who became a much more influential factor in this election and thus UK politics since his approval ratings soared in the wake of televised debates with Brown, Cameron and Clegg, from which he and the Liberal Democrats emerged with significantly higher approval ratings.

If the Tories fail to gain a clear majority, a hung parliament is likely for the first time in a generation and will probably bring about a mitigation of Tory Euroscepticism in government policy by the Labour or LibDem coalition partner, as both Milliband and Clegg are cosmopolitan, pro-Europeans and would like to keep the UK positively engaged in the European Union. Therefore, from a pro-European perspective, it seems desirable to see a coalition government form, regardless of its composition.

While hung parliaments have been the exception in the past and are unpopular in Britain, a stint of coalition politics may actually be healthy for the UK political system and could produce a successful government that tackles the problems with less ideological baggage. The increased complexity may also prompt the media to tone down its rhetoric and help the electorate make sense of a situation that is new for most.

The at least temporary shift has led to a situation in which a 2-horse-race became an election with a number of potential outcomes. While not all of the hopes will materialize, from an outside, pro-European perspective, this UK election and UK politics in general recently have become much more interesting to watch.