AS the outcome of the General Election hung in the balance last night, the size of the challenge awaiting the new Government was becoming frightening clear.

It was always the case that whoever ended up in power would face some of the biggest economic decisions in history in order to tackle the unprecedented black hole in Britain’s finances.

But as the results of the election began to trickle in last night, the US stockmarkets plunged amid concerns that high levels of European government debt will cause havoc with investor confidence.

It was an erosion of confidence that led to the recession and the new Government must be strong enough to immediately get to grips with tackling Britain’s deficit to avoid a run on sterling.

Prolonged uncertainty is something we simply cannot afford as fears grow that Greece’s debt problems could spread across Europe. The new Prime Minister will need to be bold and require cross party support to retrieve a potentially disastrous situation.

The other dark cloud gathering in the aftermath of the election last night concerned the large numbers of people who were unbelievably denied their vote by administrative inadequacies in London and Sheffield.

It is nothing short of a scandal that in the digital age, when so much is possible in terms of communication systems, that the fundamental principle of democracy – the right to a vote – could not even be managed.

At a time when politics was in dire need of reinvigoration – and a high turnout provided encouraging signs of progress – these are failures in the system that must not be repeated.