The UK voted in a hung parliament as Theresa May lost the Conservative Party majority vote in the UK last night, as her call for a snap General Election backfired due to a surge in Labour support.
The Conservative party won 318 seats, but lost 12 of its seats from the previous election thanks to what the party is calling a ‘dreadful campaign’. Jeremy Corbyn, however, led the Labour Party to 261 seats, 31 seats more than the previous election.
At the time of writing one seat remained available, but it is not enough to turn the tides of the election.
Corbyn made a public call for May to step down, saying that she has “lost conservative seats, lost support and lost confidence”.
Despite calls for the British Prime Minister to step down, May is reported to have struck a deal with the Democratic Unionist Party (10 seats), which will just about give her the 326 seats needed to resume her position as PM - granted she remains as Tory leader.
She will now ask the Queen for permission to form a minority government, the Telegraph reported.
The British news outlet reports that May has signed a ‘willingness to do a deal’ with DUP leader Arlene Foster, however Foster has expressed doubts over whether or not the PM can “survive”.
The leader for the Northern Irish party has also stated that they do not want a “hard Brexit” - but rather call for a “workable plan to leave the EU,” saying that the desire to leave the EU is still evident in the national vote.
While the Conservatives won a technical victory, May effectively threw away the party’s first term as a majority party in 18 years, after only two years in charge. She called the snap election to bolster support for Brexit, but lost multiple seats and support in an election that was not due for another three years.
The EU has warned that even though the hung parliament will delay Brexit negotiations beginning - the date in which they conclude remains set in stone. President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, tweeted: “We don't know when Brexit talks start. We know when they must end.”
© 2017 - Checkout Magazine by Aidan O'Sullivan
