How UK election shock will impact on Ireland
Snap election gamble backfires Talks with DUP over coalition deal PM ‘sorry’ for losing candidates
BRITISH Prime Minister Theresa May is battling to stay in power at the helm of a minority government backed by the DUP, as she lost her election gamble before the start of Brexit talks.
Mrs May called the snap election confident her Conservative Party would increase its majority and strengthen her hand in the Brexit talks. Instead she is fighting to stay in Downing Street, as senior Tories ponder a leadership challenge – which would push the Brexit process into further chaos.
Incoming Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has insisted the Tory setback means there is now “no strong mandate to proceed with a hard Brexit” and could present an opportunity for Ireland.
“We must ensure that the Brexit talks are handled in a smooth and coherent manner to secure the best possible outcome for Ireland,” he said.
But EU leaders expressed fears that the shock loss of a Conservative majority would risk negotiations failing.
“We need a government that can act,” said EU Budget Commissioner Guenther Oettinger. “With a weak negotiating partner, there’s a danger that the (Brexit) negotiations will turn out badly for both sides.”
The Conservatives and the DUP are now set to agree a written programme for government, as the party’s two most senior Westminster leaders fly to London to hammer out a deal.
Both parties support Brexit with a Common Travel Area to cover the Border in Ireland.
But a deal would risk destabilising the delicate political balance in Northern Ireland.
Amid the turmoil, the pound hit a seven-month low versus the euro.
SENIOR Conservatives are taking soundings over whether to replace Theresa May as prime minister following her dismal general election performance.
With the Conservatives fighting to run a minority government, senior MPs are concerned that Mrs May now lacks the authority to negotiate a successful Brexit.
Party sources suggested Boris Johnson, Amber Rudd and David Davis were being sounded out as possible replacements.
Mrs May insisted she wanted to “get on with the job” while failing to acknowledge the scale of the humiliation she faced in Thursday’s election.
She said she would lead a minority government backed by the DUP after she lost an election gamble days before the start of talks on Brexit.
Last night, senior MPs from the DUP arrived in London to negotiate the terms of a deal to prop up the Conservatives and keep them in power.
Mrs May had called the snap election confident her Conservative Party would increase its majority and strengthen her hand in the Brexit talks. Instead, Thursday’s vote damaged her authority and made her negotiating position more vulnerable to criticism.
“I’m sorry for all those candidates and hard working party workers who weren’t successful,” Mrs May said yesterday after a surprise resurgence by the main opposition Labour Party under its left-wing leader Jeremy Corbyn. “As I reflect on the results I will reflect on what we need to do in the future to take the party forward.”
The Conservatives had won 318 seats, the Labour Party had 262 seats, followed by the pro-independence Scottish National Party on 34.
Mrs May now risks opposition to her Brexit plans from inside and outside her party.
Just after noon, Mrs May was driven the short distance from her official Downing Street residence to Buckingham Palace to ask Queen Elizabeth for permission to form a government – a formality under the British system. But meanwhile talk of a heave was already filtering through senior MPs in the Conservative party.
The socially conservative, pro-Brexit Democratic Unionist Party’s 10 seats are enough to give the right-wing Conservatives a fragile but workable majority, which Mrs May said would allow her to negotiate a successful exit from the EU.
“Our two parties have enjoyed a strong relationship over many years and this gives me the confidence to believe that we will be able to work together in the interests of the whole United Kingdom,” she said.
However, DUP leader Arlene Foster’s initial comments were non-committal: “The prime minister has spoken with me this morning and we will enter discussions with the Conservatives to explore how it may be possible to bring stability to our nation at this time of great challenge.”
It was not immediately clear what the DUP’s demands might be and one suggested support might come vote by vote. British business, already struggling with the uncertainties of the two-year Brexit negotiating process, urged party leaders to work together.
“The last thing business leaders need is a parliament in paralysis, and the consequences for British businesses and for the UK as an investment destination would be severe,”
said Stephen Martin, director general of the Institute of Directors business lobby.
Mrs May said Brexit talks would begin on June 19 as scheduled, though the election result meant it was unclear whether her plan to take Britain out of the bloc’s single market and customs union could still be pursued.
EU leaders expressed fears that Mrs May’s shock loss of her majority would raise the risk of negotiations failing.
“Do your best to avoid a ‘no deal’ as result of ‘no negotiations’,” Donald Tusk, leader of the EU’s ruling council, wrote in a tweet.
“We need a government that can act,” EU Budget Commissioner Guenther Oettinger told German broadcaster Deutschlandfunk. “With a weak negotiating partner, there’s a danger that the (Brexit) negotiations will turn out badly for both sides.”
There was little sympathy for Mr May from some Europeans. “Yet another own goal, after Cameron now May, will make already complex negotiations even more complicated,” tweeted Guy Verhofstadt, the former Belgian premier who is the European Parliament’s point man for the Brexit process.
Norwegian Foreign Minister Boerge Brende said the outcome could mean a less radical split between Britain and the EU.
Ruth Davidson, leader of Conservatives in Scotland, said the results showed the Conservatives should prioritise good trade relations with the EU.
Mr Corbyn, revelling in a storming campaign trail performance after pundits had pronounced his Labour Party all but dead, said Mrs May should step down and that he wanted to form a minority government.
“The mandate she’s got is lost Conservative seats, lost votes, lost support and lost confidence,” he said. “I would have thought that’s enough to go, actually, and make way for a government that will be truly representative of all of the people of this country.”
Mrs May unexpectedly called the snap election seven weeks ago, three years early – polls predicting she would massively increase the slim majority she inherited from David Cameron.
Her campaign unravelled after a policy U-turn on care for the elderly, while Mr Corbyn’s old-school socialist platform and more impassioned campaigning won wider support than any had foreseen, notably from young voters, say analysts.