Scotland Saves Tory Government, BBC Revises Exit Poll Forecast to 322, Labour 261, SNP 32

ElectionOracle / UK General Election Jun 09, 2017 - 02:31 AM GMT

The BBC have revised their earlier hung parliament exit poll forecast in favour of the Conservatives by adding 8 seats to their earlier tally of 314 to now 322. Whilst at the same time cutting Labours seats total from 266 to 261. Suggesting a disastrous result for the Conservatives. Though at the rate the BBC are revising the Tory seats total higher then they may still achieve an overall majority which means, even at 322 it most definitely is not over for the Conservative government who could continue in government despite damage done to their political capital.

However just as big a story is the catastrophic collapse of the SNP vote who are now forecast to lose nearly half their seats, falling from 56 to just 34, which effectively is a big STFU from the people of Scotland to the SNP's shrill cries for another Independence Referendum. But even more importantly many of the SNP losses are going to the Conservatives thus Scotland could turn out to be the savior of the Conservative Government! As the difference between the Conservatives keeping hold of power and losing power is no more than about 6 seats i.e. 318 to 324 seats.

And here is the exit poll set against my forecast and the last opinion pollsters based seats forecasts.

UK General Election Final Forecasts

Forecasts	Date	Tory	Labour	Lib	SNP
Nadeem Walayat - Forecast Conclusion	4th June	358	212	12	46
Nadeem Walayat - House Prices	3rd June	342
YouGov	7th June	302	269	3	48
Lord Ashcroft	6th June	357
Electoral Calculus .co.uk	6th June	361	216	3	48
Election Forecast .co.uk	6th June	375	198	8	36
Forecastuk.org.uk	6th June	350	225	8	44
Spread Betting Markets (IG)	7th June	371	199	12	46
BBC Exit Poll - 10pm	8th June	314	266	14	34
BBC Exit Poll - Revised 2.15am	9th June	322	261	13	32
Actual Result - 3am	9th June

As is usually the case most of the pollsters tend to cluster around one another, and where the betting markets just tend to follow what the pollsters are implying in terms of polling percentages converted into seats. The only real outlier for this election is YouGov which has consistently been discounting the Tory seats total by about 50 to 60 seats compared to the other polls based seats forecasts.

But YouGov being YouGov always slip in a get out of jail card for apparently they have TWO forecasts posted on their site at the same time, one as stated above and another posted just a few hours before the polling stations opened stating that they expected the Tories would be be returned with an increased majority. Which once more illustrates the point that pollsters such as YouGov are bullshit artists! How can anyone make an informed decision based on the pollsters if they are forecasting two significantly different outcomes at the same time!

Whilst here is the analysis towards my forecast conclusion:

So in summary my UK General Election 2017 forecast conclusion was for the Conservatives to win the election with a 66 seat majority by increasing their seats total from 331 to 358. Whilst I expected Labour to drop 20 seats to 212 with the Lib Dems gaining 4 to 12, and I expected the SNP to lose 10 seats, dropping from 56 to 46.

And it won't be many more hours before we find out how the BBC's exit polls compare against the actual election result. Which my earlier analysis pointed that there tends to be a 10 seat error between the exit poll and the final result.

UK General Election BBC Exit Polls Forecast Accuracy

The BBC and other broadcaster pollster based exit polls proved very accurate for the 2001, 2005 and 2010 general elections in determining the outcome in terms of which major party would form the next government, which also proved far more accurate than the opinion pollster forecasts such as that of the US election forecasting guru Nate Silver who got the 2015 UK general election badly wrong as I covered at then time - Nate Silver UK General Election Forecast 2015 as Wrong as 2010?.

However the BBC exit poll for 2015 was very badly wrong as it forecast a hung parliament when the result was for a Conservative outright election victory. And even worse was to come for the EU Referendum, though there it was not really an exit poll rather YouGov's last throw of the dice that got the result very badly wrong with all hell breaking loose on the financial markets shortly after midnight as the actual results were pointing in the exact opposite direction.

So in conclusion expect tonight's BBC exit poll to be out by about 10 seats for the Tories, i.e. if the BBC Exit poll is 340 then the actual result would be closer to 330 or 350. Which in terms of my forecast of 358 in this example the BBC would be under estimating the actual outcome.

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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