Labour makes huge gains

Party’s impressive poll performance has dealt the Tories a major blow ahead of Brexit talks

London, June 9: Prime Minister Theresa May’s gamble of calling snap polls spectacularly backfired on Friday with the British electorate delivering a hung Parliament and forcing her to seek the support of a small Northern Irish party for staying in power, as the country braces for hard Brexit talks.

Though Ms May’s Conservative Party emerged as the single largest party on a sensational election night, the impressive show by the Labour Party led by Jeremy Corbyn sent the British politics into turmoil, putting Ms May in a complex situation ahead of the Brexit talks scheduled to start on June 19.

The results — a sort of turnaround in fortunes for both major parties — have thrown that timetable into doubt.

With results declared for nearly all of the 650 seats, Conservatives won 318 while the opposition Labour secured 261, leaving neither party anywhere close to the 326 seats required for an overall majority.

The Tories will now have to rely on the DUP’s 10 MPs to get things done.

The shock defeat for Conservatives — despite the pre-poll projections of a comfortable majority — was seen by the British media as a “humiliation” for Ms May to continue in her position.

Mr Corbyn, 68, may not have dislodged Ms May in the polls but the Labour Party’s strong showing prompted him to demand her resignation, saying she “lost votes, lost support and lost confidence” of the people.

Ms May in April had chosen to call the election three years ahead of the schedule to try to strengthen her hand in talks with the European Union to pull Britain out of the single market. —