What happens if no party wins election outright?

A HUNG parliament comes about when no single party has a majority of the 650 MPs in the House of Commons after the general election.

But that simple statement barely does justice to the cat’s cradle of computations that could follow a deadlocked ballot.

In simple arithmetic, a party needs 326 MPs for a majority in the Commons. But the Speaker, by convention, does not vote and Sinn Féin MPs have traditionally not taken up their seats at Westminster – so that alters the maths straightaway.