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'Hung Parliament' trends in Britain

  • Published
    8 June 2017
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BySam Bright
BBC Trending

The exit poll left Twitter stunned.

The hashtag "Hung Parliament" shot to the top of Twitter's list of top UK trends after the general election exit poll predicted that the Conservatives would lose their overall majority. More than 70,000 messages were posted in under an hour.

Many commentators anticipated a large Conservative majority before the election, but the exit poll actually suggested the Tories would lose seats.

  • Election results live updates

  • What happens if no-one wins the election?

  • Full UK results breakdown, external

  • Find the result where you live, external

Twitter users across the political spectrum were shocked by the news:

Twitter user: "WOW!!!"Image source, Philip Hawkes/Twitter
Tweet: "!!!!!!"Image source, Siraj Datoo/Twitter

Even some Labour candidates were surprised:

Labour's David Lammy, shocked by the resultImage source, @DavidLammy

Google reported a spike in election-related queries. Among the top trending questions was "What is a hung parliament?"

Google list of top questionsImage source, Google
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The 2015 exit poll pointed to a surprise Conservative surge, compared to pre-election polling.

With the official results yet to be tallied, Twitter users have been keen to point out the contrast between two years ago and the exit poll this time around:

Tweet: "OH MY GOD IT'S 2015 IN REVERSE"Image source, Road tp 326/Twitter

Many Labour supporters are jubilant, even though their party is predicted to win 48 fewer seats than the Conservatives:

Tweet, pointing out that Tories will fall short of majorityImage source, Andrew Cassidy/Twitter

Whereas many Conservatives are stunned:

Tweet showing shocked faceImage source, Ben Kelly/Twitter

Others are highlighting the political problems that might be posed by a hung parliament, and speculation about a second snap election has already started.

TweetImage source, Adam Wagner/Twitter
Tweet, speculating a second electionImage source, Beth Rigby/Twitter

And plenty of people are making plans to stay up through the night:

Person saying they'll stay up all night, after planning on sleeping through the resultsImage source, @merlin11779

Blog by Sam Bright

You can follow BBC Trending on Twitter @BBCtrending, external, and find us on Facebook, external. All our stories are at bbc.com/trending.

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