[mtlmtlmtlmtl]

From a democratic point of view the only thing that makes sense to me now is a snap election.

The Tories have now had one PM resign in disgrace and then seemingly failed to set up an acceptable new cabinet. I see no reason why they should keep their mandate without renewed voter support.

I suppose the king could instruct Labour to try to form a minority cabinet, but that's beyond my understanding of the procedures of British parliamentary practice.

[dane-pgp]

> I suppose the king could instruct Labour to try to form a minority cabinet

If you'd like to know more about the complex details of the role that the monarch could play in deciding the next PM (without an election), I recommend reading about the Lascelles Principles.[0]

You should particularly note one line from that article: "The convention was in abeyance from 2011 to 2022, ... these principles are thought to have been revived." (emphasis mine).

Basically, the UK's creaky, uncodified, thousand-year old constitution doesn't actually allow legal experts (much less the public) to know for sure whether these hugely consequential principles even exist any more.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lascelles_Principles

[Milner08]

Without an election Labour dont have enough seats to be an effective minority government. They would need either lots of support from other parties.

Best option right now is an election, its really our only path to stability. But the Tories will hang on for as long as they can as they are expecting to be wiped out if they held an election right now.

[londons_explore]

It would be nice if there was a way for the people to request an election anytime.

For example... Anyone can gather 100 signatures asking for an election. Then the electoral commission will select 1000 people at random from the electoral register and ask them "Should the UK hold an immediate election?". And then if the majority of those responding say yes, then an election happens.

[dane-pgp]

A method similar to that should certainly be introduced for triggering recall elections of individual MPs (possibly with a condition that the expense of the by-election be covered by crowd-funding).

To your point, though, there is "a way for the people to request an election anytime", and it has been used already, to little effect:

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/when-next-general-e...

[me_me_me]

I am sure such system would never be abused or tempered with even.

Queue in gerrymandering.

[londons_explore]

I don't really see how it can be gamed...

The worst that can happen is nuisance elections.

[AndrewDucker]

By what process do you think there would be one?

Unless the Conservatives decide that they don't want to be in power any more, there is no way to make an election happen.

[dane-pgp]

> By what process do you think there would be one?

To give an extreme answer: a general strike.[0]

The government has already shown that it will remove senior ministers in response to market turmoil, so this sets the precedent that something like a general strike (which would be hugely damaging to the economy) could be enough to remove Truss.

In the short term that might only lead to a new "caretaker" PM who will attempt to run things for the next couple of years, but it might also embolden those who organised the general strike to try again, and again, until an election was called.

[0] https://metro.co.uk/2022/10/09/what-is-a-general-strike-as-u...

[mtlmtlmtlmtl]

Yeah, that's the unfortunate reality when the Tories hold a majority alone.

A single party majority is not a healthy state of affairs because it basically bypasses parliamentarism. Good luck ever having even the possibility of a minority cabinet, and good luck triggering an election when the majority party misbehaves.