UK election: The challenges for a new government

(Vatican Radio) Britain's Conservative Party was edging closer to a parliamentary majority Friday after a UK election that defied pre-election polls.

Exit polls showed they won a large victory, despite talk just days ago of a hung parliament.

After winning back his seat in the constituency of Witney in the south of England, the Prime Minister spoke of his party’s solid performance at the polls. ``This is clearly a very strong night for the Conservative Party.”

Listen to Lydia O'Kane's interview with David Phinnemore, Head of the School of Politics, International Studies and Philosophy at Queen’s University Belfast.

David Cameron's office confirmed he would travel later Friday to Buckingham Palace, where he was expected to tell Queen Elizabeth II that he could form a government.

Meanwhile, the Labour party were hit hard by strong gains made by the Scottish National Party.

The Labour leader Ed Miliband admitted, ``this has clearly been a very disappointing and difficult night…”

The Conservative Party’s coalition partner the Liberal Democrats also suffered bad losses at the polls with leader Nick Clegg saying,``it is now painfully clear that this has been a cruel and punishing night for the Liberal Democrats,''

But as the results of this election become increasingly clear what are the challenges for David Cameron and his party? David Phinnemore is Professor of European Politics and heads the School of Politics, International Studies and Philosophy at Queen’s University Belfast in Northern Ireland. “I think it’s making that majority (in parliament) work and sustaining that majority, because I think it’s going to be very narrow”, he said, adding that Cameron has the major challenge of maintaining party discipline not least on issues such as Europe.

Speaking about the Scottish National Party’s major gains in this election, Professor Phinnemore said, “they’re effectively the third largest party which will give them a lot of time on the floor to push their issues.”

As the political landscape in British politics changes, there looks set to be major leadership changes too. The head of the Liberal Democrats announced on Friday that he was stepping down as did UKIP’S Nigel Farage, and all eyes are on Labour leader Ed Miliband following his party’s disappointing performance.