Lib Dem Coalition partners may or may not have a secret constituency level pact to keep Labour challengers out, but throughout the ITV Leaders debate there were several instances of Nick Clegg and David Cameron using a pincer movement against Ed Milliband, especially given that they had a lot of ammunition to fire against the Labour leader on the last Labour governments abysmal record that left the economy virtually on the brink of bankruptcy with an accelerating annual deficit of £167 billion that the coalition have battled to bring under control.

"I am sorry we have run out of money", May 2010 UK Treasury note to new Coalition Government

Opinion Polls

The immediate reaction from opinion pollsters was to give the debate win to UKIP Nigel Farage and SNP Nicola Sturgeon.

YouGov

Sturgeon 28%
Farage 20%
Cameron 18%
Miliband 15%
Clegg 10%
Bennett 5%
Wood: 4%

However, as the previous leaders debate illustrates that a more reliable reading follows several days after the debate. Therefore we will have a clearer voter reaction come Monday evening.

UK General Election Forecast 2015

In terms of what I actually see as the most probable outcome for the general election, I refer to my in-depth analysis of 28th Feb:

28 Feb 2015 - UK General Election 2015 Seats Forecast - Who Will Win?
28 Feb 2015 - UK General Election 2015 - Forecasting Seats for SNP, LIb-Dems, UKIP and Others

UK General Election May 2015 Forecast Conclusion

My forecast conclusion is for the Conservatives to win 296 seats at the May 7th general election, Labour 2nd on 262 seats, with the full seats per political party breakdown as follows:

Therefore the most probable outcome is for a continuation of the ConDem Coalition government on 326 seats (296+30) where any shortfall would likely find support from the DUP's 8 seats.

The alternative is for a truly messy Lab-Lib SNP supported chaotic government on 327 seats (262+30+35) which in my opinion would be a truly disastrous outcome for Britain, nearly as bad as if Scotland had voted for independence last September.

Another possibility is that should the Conservatives do better than forecast i.e. secure over 300 seats but still fail to win an overall majority, then they may chose to go it alone with the plan to work towards winning a May 2016 general election.

The bottom line is that the opinion polls do not reflect how people will actually vote on May 7th when they are faced with a stark choice of steady as she goes ConDem government or take a huge gamble on Ed Milliband's Labour party. So in my opinion several millions of voters will chose to play it safe with ConDem which thus is the most probable outcome.

Also available a youtube video version of my forecast:

The bottom line is that this election offers voters a choice of between a continuation of the steady as she goes Conservative Lib-Dem Coalition or to take a chance on a Labour SNP Axis that then goes on a debt fuelled spending spree for a couple of years or so before collapsing Britain into an early election some 2-3 years from now as the SNP insurgency will have achieved their tunnel vision mission of ejecting themselves out of the UK and into economic abyss.

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Source and Comments:http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article50110.html

By Nadeem Walayat

http://www.marketoracle.co.uk

Nadeem Walayat has over 25 years experience of trading derivatives, portfolio management and analysing the financial markets, including one of few who both anticipated and Beat the 1987 Crash. Nadeem's forward looking analysis focuses on UK inflation, economy, interest rates and housing market. He is the author of five ebook's in the The Inflation Mega-Trend and Stocks Stealth Bull Market series that can be downloaded for Free.

Nadeem is the Editor of The Market Oracle, a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication that presents in-depth analysis from over 1000 experienced analysts on a range of views of the probable direction of the financial markets, thus enabling our readers to arrive at an informed opinion on future market direction. http://www.marketoracle.co.uk

Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any trading losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors before engaging in any trading activities.

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