They couldn’t possibly vote for Jeremy Corbyn, the quasi-Marxist, left-wing Labour Party leader who campaigned on high taxes for the rich, heavy spending and deep skepticism toward Britain’s traditional defense and foreign policies. The centre-right Conservatives found themselves eight short of the coveted 326-seat mark, but reached out to Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which won 10 seats, to forge a working majority.
Most of the other parties – Liberal Democrats (12 seats), Scottish Nationalists (35), Welsh Nationalists (4) and the Greens (1) – are broadly liberal-leftist and anti-Brexit.
In a statement outside Downing Street, the 60-year-old premier promised to “fulfil the promise of Brexit”.
“I asked for a categoric assurance that if any deal or scoping deal was done with the DUP there would be absolutely no rescission of LGBTI rights in the rest of the United Kingdom, in Great Britain, and that we would use any influence that we had to advance LGBTI rights in Northern Ireland”.
“This will allow us to come together as a country and channel our energies towards a successful Brexit deal that works for everyone in this country securing a new partnership with the European Union which guarantees our long-term prosperity”.
But European Council President Donald Tusk warned there was “no time to lose” in starting the negotiations. “If she has an ounce of self-respect, she will resign“, said Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron, while Conservative M.P. and former minister Anna Soubry said May “is in a very hard place… she now has to obviously consider her position”.
“We all know politicians like telling lies / Big ones, little ones, porky pies / Saying they’re strong and stable, won’t disguise / We’re still being taken for a ride”, reads one verse. A blatant bid to do away with a living and breathing opposition that threatened to scupper her plans every step of the way. The negotiations on Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union are set to commence in just over a week. Speaking after being re-elected to his London seat, Corbyn said May should “go. and make way for a government that is truly representative of all the people of this country”. “Do your best to avoid a “no deal” as a result of ‘no negotiations, ‘” he said.
Rather than an official coalition, the partnership is likely to be on an issue by issue basis. “I hope that we will not experience further delay in the conclusion of these negotiations”.
When that election will take place is an open question.
But Tory voters thought their party would do a better job of negotiating Brexit and believed Theresa May would be the best Prime Minister.
MALCOLM BRABANT: At Westminster, a demonstrator wearing a May mask laid flowers on a mock grave, amid rising calls for the prime minister to resign. “My view is we need her to stay as Prime Minister and stay as Prime Minister for the foreseeable future”. She just wanted a bigger one.
Former minister Anna Soubry called on Mrs May to sack her joint chiefs of staff, Fiona Hill and Nick Timothy, after she complained about their central roles in the campaign.
British newspapers summed it up in a word: “Mayhem”. While the Conservatives are still the largest party in Parliament, they did not win enough seats for an outright majority, leading to a hung parliament.
Labour performed above all expectations at the ballot box, winning 262 seats. The support obtained by Labor party members contrasted with the negative predictions of hardly two months ago, when they were 20 percentage points below the conservatives in terms of intention to vote.
For instance, Menon said, some pro-EU Conservative legislators may wait until the Brexit legislative program comes to Parliament to start attacking it. May won the Conservative leadership without a contest, so the party will be keen to test her successor in a leadership race. The victor of that leadership race will shape the U.K.’s negotiating stance with the European Union (EU) unless a new election is called.