Hung Jury: Post-Election Business Responses

The votes have been mostly counted, and the results are almost in. But the drama came less from the election itself than from a slightly alarmist approach in some media.

Here are some of the more measured responses:

"Anyone who wagered £100 four weeks ago that the UK election would result in a hung parliament likely woke up £168 richer on Friday," says Lex commentary.

It goes on: "The last inconclusive result in February 1974 -- admittedly against a different economic backdrop -- preceded wild market drops before Britons were forced to the polls again eight months later. No surprise, then, that when Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg's fortunes soared after the inaugural television debate, investors took fright and started pricing the threat into currency and gilt markets".

After David Cameron's very public and limp coalition offer with the Liberal Democrats, the the Guardian's Dan Roberts reported on Twitter how the markets were "tumbling again as implications of Cameron's non-offer sink in. Pound breaks back below $1.47, FTSE 100 down close to 100 pts now."

But the real losers are seen as the smaller businesses, according to the IoD, because they are more vulnerable to weak sterling and reliant on domestic markets, it is claimed.

A post on The Start up Donut looks at the effects of a hung parliament on small businesses, arguing that they cannot wait around while the major political parties make power plays: "Business groups have warned that the uncertainty of a hung parliament will jeopardise the ability of small firms to plan ahead, and stressed that they can't afford a period of political horse-trading".

At Stumbling and Mumbling, the question is whether empowering workers is actually what the electorate wants. People don't want to take control of local services -- maybe they don't want the responsibility. But some form of worker ownership could do much to even out "toxic class conflict" in industries such as the Royal Mail, while also helping the government to cut the deficit: "workers... know better than Whitehall where the waste is."

Clare Beale assesses the campaign ads themselves in the Independent and finds them wanting, too. "This has not been an election of iconic advertising, of cut-through, game-changing creativity. It has been an election of stunts, online parodies and fast turn-around, knee-jerk ads that have made the most of the speed and flexibility of digital posters and the internet."

On a lighter note, Tim Glanfield of Beehive City has put together a video to go along with some music by John Shuttleworth: what if David and Gordon followed Nick's example and called themselves Dave and Don?

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(Picture: Robertsharp, CC2.0)