Britain’s politicians returned yesterday from their Christmas break to launch campaigns for what could be the closest election in memory, with the rise of anti-Europeans and Scottish nationalists creating uncertainty unseen since the 1970s.

Britons who have seen two parties alternate in power for generations could wake to find no fewer than five parties vying for a role in a coalition government after a May 7 election.

The trend that saw neither Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservatives nor Opposition Labour win an outright majority in 2010 for the first time since World War II has intensified, with polls showing more than a third of voters now spurning the two big parties.

Polls show more than a third of voters now spurning the two big parties

“It’s a more complex world,” Gus O’Donnell, a British lord and the country’s former top civil servant, told Sky News.

“People should be ready for the fact that it might take rather longer to form a government than the five days last time,” said O’Donnell. Fast forward five years and Cameron’s right-leaning Conservatives are divided over Europe, while left-leaning Labour is beset by doubts about the abilities of Ed Miliband, its leader.

Britain’s Opposition Labour Party leader Ed Miliband gestures as he launches his party’s 2015 election campaign at the Lowry Theatre in Salford, northwest England, yesterday. Photos: ReutersBritain’s Opposition Labour Party leader Ed Miliband gestures as he launches his party’s 2015 election campaign at the Lowry Theatre in Salford, northwest England, yesterday. Photos: Reuters

Cameron’s Liberal Democrat junior partners have the biggest problems. They have seen their support fall by two thirds, with voters disillusioned by the party’s role in a centre-right government.

Meanwhile, 2014 saw the populist anti-EU UK Independence Party (Ukip) surge into first in elections for the European Parliament in Britain and win its first two seats in the British Parliament when Conservatives defected. Its rise mainly hurts Cameron, though Ukip also courts working class Labour voters worried about immigration.

And the Scottish Nationalist Party, despite losing a referendum on independence, is on course to win dozens of Scottish seats once thought safe for Labour. That clearly hurts Miliband.

The plights of both main leaders means that whoever wins might need the support of two other parties to form a government, and the arrangement could prove so fragile that Britain might need to hold another election in short order.

Some pundits say Britain could even suffer turbulence similar to the 1970s when power changed hands three times via four national elections and four prime ministers.

Cameron wants to fight the election on his economic record. On his watch, Britain’s $2.8 trillion economy has emerged from its deepest downturn since World War II to enjoy one of the fastest growth rates of any major advanced economy. The Conservatives portray Labour, who were in power during the 2007/8 financial crisis, as the party that “crashed the car” and shouldn’t be given the keys back.

Yesterday, finance minister George Osborne accused Labour of planning to spend billions of pounds more in its first year of office than is sustainable.

“Don’t put our recovery at risk,” Osborne told a news conference.

Labour’s Miliband accused Cameron of presiding over a recovery that favoured the wealthy at the expense of the poor. He wants to put the state of Britain’s free National Health Service (NHS) at the heart of the election campaign, an institution which Britons regard as one of their crown jewels.

Miliband said, “It is a choice between a Tory plan where only a few at the top can succeed and our public services are threatened. Or a Labour plan that puts working people first, deals with the deficit and protects our NHS.”

Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, criticised both Labour and the Conservatives, saying only his party could anchor a future coalition in the centre ground.

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