Labour wrong that the largest party forms the government

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/mar/17/when-no-clear-uk-election-winner-who-governs

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Labour election literature falling on to doormats declares that “the largest political party forms the government”. That is simply untrue and should be subject to a challenge through the Advertising Standards Authority. As outlined in the cabinet manual, it is the party which “can command the confidence of parliament” that is invited to form the government. Commanding confidence means being able to avoid defeat in parliament on explicit confidence motions, and the Queen’s speech, and on matters which have always been regarded as confidence issues, in particular the passage of the annual budget.

This party may in fact be the second largest one, if it can do a deal with other parties, as occurred in 1924. In the general election of 1923 the Conservatives under Stanley Baldwin gained the most number of seats, 258, with Labour under Ramsay Macdonald gaining 191. But the latter became prime minister in 1924 when the Labour party was propped up by the Liberals.

Indeed, following the general election in 2010 it was Jim Murphy, as Scottish secretary, who said that Gordon Brown, despite not winning the largest number of seats would be able to put together a coalition, and that, as sitting prime minister, Mr Brown had the “constitutional and moral right” to try to form a government. Labour needs to stop spreading a line that is patently untrue and amend its election literature accordingly.Alex OrrEdinburgh