Corbyn, beaming with hope, claimed on Twitter that the Labour party had “changed the face of British politics”.
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The exit polls also mark an unexpected rise for Corbyn, who has hung on as Labour leader through several attempts from senior members of his party to oust him.
But she came under fire for a lacklustre, soundbite-driven performance on the campaign trail and a damaging U-turn on healthcare policy. Last night, Britain got outcome number three, and this morning, a chastened but outwardly defiant May vowed to form a coalition government, whose most likely partner is the Democratic Unionist Party of Northern Ireland. But in the cleaner air of Brussels, London, Berlin, Paris, and elsewhere, the future of the United Kingdom, the European Union, and even North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, will need to be hammered out one more time.
With 649 of 650 seats declared, the Conservatives had won 318 seats, short of the 326 needed for a parliamentary majority. In light of such a deeply disappointing result, Mrs. That raised the odds that an election called by May to provide “strong and stable government” would bring instability and the chance of yet another early election. Labour won 261 seats. The DUP is a socially conservative group that opposes abortion and same-sex marriage and had links to Protestant paramilitary groups during Ireland’s sectarian “Troubles”. Either it can form a coalition with one or more other parties, or it can form a minority government, where it has no majority by itself but relies on other parties to make deals on a vote-by-vote basis to pass legislation.
The shock defeat for Conservatives – despite the pre- poll projections of a comfortable majority – was seen by the British media as a “humiliation” for May to continue in her position. There are deep divisions between those who wish to leave the European Union and those who want to stay – and they cut across party lines.
In the Conservative Party, recriminations were immediate and stinging. “Let’s put our minds together on striking a deal”, Michel Barnier said.
The Prime Minister called what she thought would be a Brexit-focused election, but the issue was quickly overshadowed by security as two deadly terror attacks, in Manchester and London, struck during the campaign period.
“Honestly, it feels nearly like she is nearly not aware of what has happened in the last 24 hours”, Conservative lawmaker Heidi Allen told LBC radio.
She now risks more opposition to her Brexit plans from inside and outside her party.
The election’s biggest victor was Corbyn, who confounded expectations that his left-wing views made him electorally toxic.
May had unexpectedly called the snap election seven weeks ago, even though no vote was due until 2020. “They didn’t want to leave the EU”. Clearly, the Brexit referendum has made people realise the importance of exercising their right to vote. But Corbyn upped the ante and proved to be a formidable campaigner. While he was demonized by conservative newspapers, on Facebook Corbyn was trending. Almost 13 million people voted for us to do it. “That’s not a matter for me”, she said. “This was the first time I voted”.
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Minority governments in Britain “have very bad track records – they always get torn apart”. Although some results are still being counted, the final Conservative tally is expected to be 319, down from 331 in the last election in 2015. There’s a possibility of voting it down it and we’re going to push that all the way.
