The Student Room Group

Why did the 2015 GENERAL ELECTION turn out the way it did?

Why did the LIB DEMS do so badly?

Why did the TORIES win?

Why did LABOUR lose seats?

Why was there an SNP revival?


Would anybody be able to help me and provide me with 3 (or abouts) well established points for each of these questions for a practice A-level politics question?


The big question...

Why did the 2015 GE end up the way it did?

What influenced the outcome?

Media?
party leaders?
policies?
Party unity?

Examples for these would be fantastic!

If anybody could help me, I would very much appreciate it.

Thank you, and kind regards.
Everyone went off of the Lib Dems because of how badly they performed in the coalition, going back on stances such as student fees and what not.

Labour lost seats because of the meteoric rise of the SNP in Scotland. Labour had traditionally had a stronghold in Scotland.
Reply 2
- Lib Dem electoral strategy was to downplay the coalition accomplishments, this amplified their losses because it meant the soft right went blue, The soft left they'd already lost by entering.
- Trust in the leadership and economy. Cameron had approval levels in excess of 40% according to Ipsos Mori, much higher than Miliband. The economy was accelerating and had been since 2013.
- Labour lost seats of a combination of factors but much of it came down to the left being more open to independence (probably because England has not elected a true left wing government in over 40 years).
- Revival would be a wrong word to use since they never really lost votes however it's a combination of good approval ratings in government and the referendum acting as a means to bring people under one banner.
I have answered the question 'Evaluate the main factors that determined the outcome of the May 2015 General Election.'
This came up in 2011 January paper but it was obviously asking it on the 2010 election so it is very likely that it will come up.
See attachment. I have got it marked by my teacher too.

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