Editor’s blog: No winners, only losers?

What a strange night and strange result. After all the frantic electioneering and frankly erroneous polls, it seems nationally, at least, that we are left with no winners, only losers.

David Cameron failed to gain the overall majority he so craved; Nick Clegg’s prediction of it being a two-horse race proved correct but not in the way he imagined; while Gordon Brown squats in Number 10 for the weekend at least, grimly clutching onto the Constitution.

And Cornwall is no longer the exclusive Lib Dem club it once was, with three Conservatives marking their territory.

One of the highest profile Lib Dem casualties was Julia Goldsworthy, in the new Camborne and Redruth constituency. She lost out to Conservative candidate George Eustice by an agonising 66 votes.

Goldsworthy’s share of the vote actually went up, but nowhere near the extent that Eustice, who hails from a popular local farming family, profited from the slide in Labour support.

Local Lib Dem businesswoman Terrye Teverson was also narrowly squeezed out in Truro and Falmouth, losing to Conservative candidate Sarah Newton by 435 votes.

Former Cornish PR consultant Stephen Gilbert took the newly-formed St Austell & Newquay seat for the Lib Dems, while Dan Rogerson held off the challenge of Sian Flynn to retain his Cornwall North seat.

Lib Dem support fell away dramatically in South East Cornwall, however, with a 9.1% swing away to the Conservatives and Sheryll Murray.

Just what all this means to Cornwall and Cornwall’s businesses, though, we’ll have to wait and see.

No longer united under the banner of a single party, will Cornwall’s voice in Westminster be diminished any? Or will it be listened to more now that, in all likelihood, three of its MPs will be closer to the ear of the Prime Minister?

What are your thoughts on a hung Parliament? Will there be a lack of stability, or can a coalition work for the benefit of Britain in these trying times?

Or will it all fall apart amid political infighting, with us ending up going back to the Polls in a year or so time?