From: clarinews@clarinet.com (JANE HOLLIGAN)
Newsgroups: clari.news.gov.international,clari.news.election,clari.news.europe,clari.news.gov.officials,biz.clarinet.sample,clari.news.urgent
Followup-to: biz.clarinet.sample
Subject: British voters feared Labor tax plan, analysts say
Keywords: international, non-usa government, government, election, politics,
	government officials
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 92 11:42:16 PDT
Location: great britain, western europe
ACategory: international
Slugword: britain-election
Priority: regular
Format: regular
X-Supersedes: <britain-electionU2AA1240pe@clarinet.com>
ANPA: Wc: 1188; Id: z4820; Sel: xxigf; Adate: 4-10-240ped; Ver: ld; V#: 10
Codes: yigfrxx., yipergb., yigorxw.
Note: (10grafld-pickup11thgraf: shortly after -- all districts reporting,
 tories have 21-seat majority)

	LONDON (UPI) -- British voters, fearful of a tax increase from a Labor
Party that hasn't been in power for more than a decade, decided to go
with a devil they knew and entrusted John Major's Conservative Party
with the job of trying to strengthen the nation's shaky economy,
analysts said Friday.
	In the surprise vote in Thursday's parliamentary elections, the
Tories extended their 13-year tenure and an unprecedented fourth
straight majority in Parliament.
	``Voters in the end obviously had misgivings about Labor's tax and
spending policies,'' said George Jones, London School of Economics
professor of government. ``The markets and big business will look
favorably on a Conservative majority. What they feared was a hung
Parliament or a Labor majority. They feared instability.''
	Jones added that the Tories also were able to erode the support of
the Liberal Democrats by ``suggesting a vote for the Liberal Democrats
was a vote for Labor.''
	Patrick Dunleavy of the London School of Economics said Labor did
well in the north where the recession has been deeper, but that higher-
income voters in the south were more nervous about Labor's tax
proposals.
	The Conservatives also credited their win to Labor's plans to raise
taxes for the highest-paid, saying it frightened voters still
unconvinced Labor had the credentials to lift the country out of
recession.
	With all 651 constituencies reporting results of Thursday's
balloting, the Tories had 336 seats in the House of Commons, giving the
party a 21-seat majority that cemented Major's right to form the next
government.
	Labor took 271 seats, the Liberal Democrats 20 and other parties 24.
	The Conservative victory marked the first time in 150 years that a
party has won four elections in a row and confounded the opinion polls
indicating a hung Parliament in which neither major party would gain a
majority.
	In this case a third party, probably the Liberal Democratic Party,
would have been approached about forming a coalition government.
	Shortly after his majority was confirmed, Major came out of his
official Downing Street residence at 1:15 p.m. to greet around 400
cheering people who had gathered to congratulate him.
	Inside the residence, Major, who took over as prime minister from
Margaret Thatcher in November 1990, joked with staff and told them, 
``It's nice to be back.''
	Saying he was ``absolutely delighted'' with the result and the
personal mandate of his leadership, Major told the crowd, ``The first
thing we must do is to move the country out of recession and back into
growth.''
	Major pledged to improve education and to build up the National
Health Service that provides free medical care, vowing the NHS would not
be privatized during his leadership.
	He also reaffirmed his government's commitment to creating a 
``classless society.''
	``I want to see the extra education opportunities that we have spoken
of, the extra training opportunities, the chance for an ever-increasing
number of our own citizens to own our own homes, to build up their own
wealth and their own shares,'' Major said.
	The Tory leader proposed to build up Britain's international standing
and take a leading role in the Group of Seven, the European Community
and the United Nations.
	Observers said that Major was expected to reshuffle his Cabinet
Saturday. Seven Conservative ministers lost their parliamentary seats in
Thursday's election, with latest figures showing the Tories had lost 34
seats overall, while Labor gained 39 seats.
	Despite prevailing over the longest recession since the Second World
War, the Conservatives managed to hold their share of the vote at 43
percent, the same as in the 1987 election.
	Labor increased its share of the vote by around 4 percent, but the
shift in support was not enough for it to oust the Tories despite
running a campaign widely praised as slick and efficient.
	Analysts said the results put Neil Kinnock's future as Labor leader
in doubt since it was the second time in a row he led the party to
election defeat.
	Kinnock remained at home Friday but issued a statement that appeared
to pave the way for his resignation.
	``I am consulting with colleagues to inform them of the action I
propose to take in the wake of the election defeat,'' the 50-year-old
Labor leader said.
	The statement added there would be no further comment until Monday.
	Although Labor trimmed the Tory majority, the election failed to
produce the far-reaching changes predicted by many observers.
	The London stock market, whose key index fell 138 points during the
campaign on fears of a Labor government, shot up sharply Friday as
dealers celebrated the Conservatives' surprise return. By mid-afternoon,
the FTSE index was up more than 128 points, regaining almost all its
losses since the election was called March 11.
	Economists had said the stock market would decline if the government
lost, with some brokerages, including Smith New Court, predicting a
long-term flight of investors from assets in sterling.
	The relatively poor showing of the Liberal Democrats dimmed hopes of
electoral reform. While opinion polls had pointed to a hung parliament,
the Liberals had looked set for a king-making role. They had stressed
they would only consider supporting a minority government that would
reform Britain's first-past-the-post voting system by introducing
proportional representation.
	Paddy Ashdown, head of the Liberal Democrats, failed to increase his
party's share of 22 seats, with the party down a seat on latest results.
	In Scotland, where the key issue was also constitutional reform,
hopes of independence or even a local parliament were dashed by the
Conservatives' win. Against all independent predictions, the Tories
increased the number of seats they hold in Scotland to 11 from 9, while
the Scottish Nationalists lost the seat held by their deputy leader Jim
Sillars and appeared to have won only four seats.
	The Conservatives have pledged to defend the union with Scotland.
	With the impact of the election on Parliament limited by the Tory
victory, much of the election drama was provided by individual winners
and losers.
	Several prominent Conservatives lost their seats, including party
chairman Chris Patten, Overseas Development Minister Lynda Chalker and
several junior Cabinet ministers.
	The political wing of the Irish Republican Army, Sinn Fein, also lost
its only parliamentary seat to a moderate nationalist candidate. Sinn
Fein leader, Gerry Adams, who held the single seat but never used it,
lost the mainly Catholic west Belfast constituency. Government officials
hailed the defeat as a rejection of the IRA's violent campaign to end
British rule in Northern Ireland.
	More glittering additions to the House of Commons were two-time Oscar
winner Glenda Jackson, who won a north London seat for Labor, and former
Olympic athlete and Conservative Sebastian Coe.
Xref: sparky clari.news.gov.international:241 clari.news.election:255 clari.news.europe:51 clari.news.politics.people:51 biz.clarinet.sample:1173