article_snippet: The last minority government following a General Election occurred in February 1974 after Ted Heath had gone to the country in the middle of a miners’ strike asking the voters to decide ‘
article_snippet: the voters, however, refused to give a clear answer and, in the fragmented hung parliament that followed, Labour governed as a minority for seven months.
article_snippet: There was then a second General Election in October at which Labour won a small majority.
article_snippet: In the past, the Prime Minister could try, as Labour did in 1974, to escape from the minority situation by dissolving Parliament.
article_snippet: Besides, there is no reason to believe a second General Election would, as in 1974, deliver a majority government.
article_snippet: no reason to believe a second General Election would, as in 1974, deliver a majority government could easily reproduce the same result.