Highs and lows of 14 years of Conservative rule
Labour’s apparent impending victory in the General Election would bring down the curtain on 14 years of Conservative-led government at Westminster.
We look back at how the past decade-and-a-half unfolded.
– 2010 to 2015: The coalition years
The general election of May 6 2010 brought to an end Labour’s run of three straight victories but failed to deliver the outright victory the Tories were hoping for.
With his party 20 seats short of an overall majority, the Conservative leader David Cameron made “a big, open and comprehensive offer” to the third-placed Liberal Democrats to work together in government.
After five days of intensive talks, Mr Cameron emerged to announce that the two parties had agreed to form the UK’s first coalition government since the Second World War, with Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg serving as deputy prime minister.
The years that followed were dominated by the fallout from the 2008 global financial collapse which saw the Labour government of Gordon Brown pour tens of billions of pounds into bailing out the banks to prevent a complete implosion of the financial system.
In the course of the parliament, Mr Cameron and chancellor George Osborne slashed spending by around £100 billion in “austerity” cuts as they sought to rebuild the shattered public finances.
Despite the economic constraints, the government nevertheless pushed through major – and highly controversial – reforms to the NHS and benefits system, with the introduction of Universal Credit, while privatising Royal Mail.
In a surprise move, it introduced legislation to enable same-sex marriage, which
