BRITAIN TO VOTE – AT 10:48 A.M. ET:  Britain votes Thursday, with probable major changes in the aftermath of the election.  Again, The Telegraph reports:

The ICM survey for The Sunday Telegraph suggests David Cameron, who today promises to hand power “to the people” if he becomes prime minister, will lead the largest party in a hung parliament.

The poll also shows that three voters out of four believe immigration is a significant problem for Britain. After Gordon Brown’s description of a voter who raised concerns about immigration from eastern Europe as “bigoted”, the issue is seen as the second most important in the campaign behind the economy.

Which means the Brits have caught on to the difference between legitimate and dangerous forms of immigration.  In the former, people migrate to Britain to become British.  In the latter, they have no intention of becoming British, but wish to undermine British society.  There is a difference.

The survey puts the Conservatives up three points from last Tuesday on 36 per cent, with Labour up one point to 29 per cent and reclaiming second place from the Lib Dems.

Mr Clegg’s party is down three points to 27 per cent – the same level it was on in an ICM poll at the time of the first televised debate.

Assuming a uniform national swing, analysis by John Curtice, professor of politics at Strathclyde University, shows that the figures – if repeated on Thursday – would give the Conservatives 279 seats, Labour 261 and the Lib Dems 78.

The Tories would still be 47 seats short of an overall majority and could be defeated in any Commons vote by an alliance of Labour and Lib Dem MPs.

But most reports say that the conservatives would try to govern as a minority government, hardly a dreamed-of prospect.  This demonstrates the inherent instability of a three-party system.  Our two-party affair, often ridiculed in Europe, provides stability because one party normally must get a majority, or awfully close to it, to govern.

May 2, 2010