Should Labour shift right? Or speak for the "left behind", and the 20m+ who, again, didn’t vote at all

The Tory majority hides what happened when you count individual votes. The Tory rise of 0.8% was less (apart from the LibDems, of course!) than any of the other major parties. UKIP were up by 9.5%, followed by the SNP at 3.1% and the Greens at 2.8%. Even the Labour vote rose by 1.5%. The Big Question is how many of UKIP's votes were for its rightist policies and how many for its leftist, given a lot of their support came from the "left behind", on low incomes, who had previously voted Labour.

Election 2015 results for the UK: BBC NEWS

The Labour vote rose by 1.5% across the UK, despite losing so many votes to the SNP in Scotland. But looking at England alone, Labour's vote rose by 3.6%, the Tory's by 1.4%.

Election 2015 results for England: BBC NEWS

OUR RELATED STORIES:

Every democracy, including ours, needs a left and a right party. Politicians who shift too close to their opposition are putting their careers before the nation

Most MPs vote the way they're told by the party. Many have second jobs earning tens of thousands. Half sit in safe seats they never lose. It's tough being an MP!

British Social Attitudes Survey: Tories & Labour are losing their core supporters

Under 25% of total electorate voted Labour in 2005 and Tory in 2010

In 1997 the percentage of young people not voting shot up. Under 55- year-olds too

Since 1979, Labour or Tory, inequality rose whilst economic performance remained the same

"It's the economy, stupid" means the economies of individual families, not just UK Plc

Hope you didn't vote for anyone who helps pump up house prices

Lest we forget: all policies are pointless unless the banks are reined in

GDP is what the UK produces. NNDI is what UK residents get to keep of it. It's starting to slide

Decades of spending our property wealth led to the 2008 crash. Spending our pension pots will lead to the next

When did you last get a pay rise?! MPs get a 10% pay hike in May 2015, to £74k