British Prime Minister Theresa May plans to cling to power although she could not take the Conservative Party to victory in a snap election that she had called, hoping to form “a strong and stable government” as Brexit negotiations begin later this month.
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If Corbyn had won seven seats that were narrowly won by the Tories, he would have been in the position May is in now and forming a “progressive alliance” with the smaller parties involved in the election. May had been expected to win comfortably.
If confirmed, the result would lead to a period of political uncertainty and could throw Britain’s negotiations to leave the European Union – due to start June 19 – into disarray. Instead, May emerged from Thursday’s election having lost her Conservative majority in the House of Commons and forced to try to cobble together a minority government with the help of a party from Northern Ireland.
The projected election results also show Liberal Democrats winning 13 seats, a gain of five, and the Scottish National Party winning 35, a loss of 21.
“I was expecting a Labour win, but was surprised by the hung Parliament”.
“I certainly think that there will be contact made over the weekend, but I think it’s too soon to talk about what we’re going to do”, DUP leader Arlene Foster said, speaking to BBC Radio Ulster. He said it was impossible to predict whether she would still be prime minister at the end of the year.
“Clearly if she’s got a worse result than two years ago and is nearly unable to form a government, then she, I doubt, will survive in the long term as Conservative Party leader”, former Conservative Treasury chief George Osborne said on ITV. The spokesman indicated this would not be a formal coalition but a minority government with looser DUP support on a “confidence and supply basis”.
What does this mean for the United Kingdom and the Conservatives?
Mrs May’s party lost ground to Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour but said the Tories are still the largest party with 318 seats and 42.2% of the vote.
Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May waits for the result of the vote in her constituency at the count center for the general election in Maidenhead on June 9, 2017.
Despite what is generally considered a humiliation, European Union President Donald Tusk took time to write May to congratulate her in the wake of the elections.
For Sorfina Shamsudin, 22, and her friends, this GE was the first time that they were making their voices heard. Given the election arithmetic, Labour would struggle to get the numbers to form a government. She needs 18 more seats, with only 17 more seats left to declare.
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And, Gunther Krichbaum, chairman of the European Committee in the German government, said that with the vote “the British people have clearly expressed their opposition to Theresa May’s confrontational approach to the European Union”.
