Now that the majority of the results are in, here’s some spin on the results for each party:
Pro-party spin
Conservatives: Huge gain in number of seats, beat Labour into second place, can probably form a minority government or possibly coalition with Lib Dems. David Cameron will likely end up as the new occupant of Number 10.
Labour: Better than expected, weren’t pushed into third place. Could in theory hang on to power with a Lib-Lab coalition.
Lib Dems: Increased their vote share by the second largest amount, if you ignore the Conservatives, who were always going to do well. Could hold the balance of power between Labour and the Conservatives.
BNP: Largest increase in vote share, again if you ignore the Conservatives.
Green: Caroline Lucas elected as MP.
UKIP: Slight increase in vote share.
Pirate Party: Erm, I can’t think of any positive spin. I think even Alasdair Cambell and Peter Mandleson would be stumped by this one. The official spin is “0.3% swing to the Pirates!”
Anti-party spin
Conservatives: Failed to get a majority, really ought to have done better.
Labour: Kicked out of power (probably). Party finances may not stretch to fighting a second general election if one is called in 6-12 months.
Lib Dems: Vote increase less than the BNP, net loss of seats, failed to make the breakthrough despite Cleggmania. Has the difficult choice of deciding which party to support – either Labour (difficult as they clearly lost) or Conservatives (the Lib Dem party members will probably have a fit). Lost some big names, including Lembit Opik.
BNP: Failed to win any seats.
Green: Fall in vote share, lost deposits in most seats, big hitter Tony Juniper failed to get elected.
UKIP: Failed to win any seats.
Pirate Party: Lost all their deposits and got fewer than 250 votes everywhere they stood. Epic fail.