Mini-lecture: A hung Parliament explained
29 March 2010
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With a general election looming, Professor Robert Hazell, Director of the Constitution Unit, explains what a hung Parliament would mean for the UK.
In this scenario, Professor Hazell explained, "Gordon Brown, the incumbent prime minister, will remain in office as prime minister after the election, until it becomes clear who can command confidence in the new Parliament and form the new government - and that isn't necessarily the largest single party.
"In 2009 the Constitution Unit did a lot of research on hung parliaments and minority governments in partnership with the Institute for Government, and we published a major report in December of last year which contained recommendations on how to make a hung Parliament and a minority government work - recommendations for the Crown, the Government itself and the Civil Service."
UCL context
The UCL Constitution Unit is part of the UCL School of Public Policy, and is the UK's foremost independent research body on constitutional change. The Unit specialises in constitutional reform and comparative constitutional studies. It is independent and non-partisan, and the centre of a wide network of national and international experts.
All the Unit's work has a sharply practical focus, is timely and relevant to policy makers and practitioners. Current major areas of research are: freedom of information and data protection; devolution and territorial politics; and parliament and parliamentary reform.