MAY TO FORM GOVT WITH IRISH PARTY
Her bid to boost party’s majority and strengthen hand for Brexit talks backfires
ADEFIANT Prime Minister Theresa May vowed yesterday to form a new government to lead Britain out of the European Union despite losing her majority in a snap general election and facing calls to resign.
“What the country needs more than ever is certainty,” May said.
The Conservative leader had called Thursday’s vote in a bid to extend her majority and strengthen her hand in the looming Brexit negotiations, but her gamble backfired spectacularly.
Although winning the most seats, her centre-right party lost its majority in Parliament, meaning it will now rely on support from Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).
May vowed to “fulfil the promise of Brexit” in a statement outside her Downing Street office here after seeking permission from Queen Elizabeth to form a new government.
“It is clear that only the Conservative and Unionist Party has the legitimacy and ability to provide that.
“This will allow us to come together as a country and channel our energies towards a successful Brexit deal.”
The Conservatives and the proBrexit DUP are expected to team up on a vote-by-vote basis rather than enter a formal alliance after the stunning result left Britain with a hung Parliament.
May faced pressure to quit from opposition parties after a troubled campaign overshadowed by two terror attacks, but said Britain “needs a period of stability”.
But, Leftist opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn, whose Labour party surged from 20 points behind in the opinion polls, told May to quit, saying she had “lost votes, lost support and lost confidence”.
Tory supporter Nick, 31, blamed the defeat on May’s “arrogance”, saying: “It serves her right. Whoever takes over has to understand campaigning is important.”
With all but one seat declared at press time, the Conservatives won 318 seats — down from 331 in the last election — while Labour won 262, up from 229.
May, a 60-year-old vicar’s daughter, is facing questions over her judgment in calling the election three years early and risking her party’s slim but stable working majority of 17.
The result is “exactly the opposite of why she held the election and she then has to go and negotiate Brexit in that weakened position”, said Professor Tony Travers of the London School of Economics.
Newspapers reflected the political tumult, with headlines such as “Britain on a knife edge”, “Mayhem” and “Hanging by a thread”.
In a night that redrew the political landscape once again, the UK Independence Party lost millions of voters, triggering the resignation of leader Paul Nuttall.
The Scottish National Party of First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, which has dominated politics north of the border for a decade and called for a new independence vote after Brexit, lost 21 of the 56 seats it won in 2015.
Sturgeon said the result showed that “the reckless Tory pursuit of a ‘hard Brexit’ must now be abandoned”.
May, who took over after the Brexit referendum last year, began the formal two-year process of leaving the EU on March 29, promising to take Britain out of the single market and cut immigration.
Seeking to capitalise on skyhigh popularity ratings, she called the election a few weeks later, urging voters to give her a stronger mandate.
Officials in Brussels were hopeful the election would allow her to make compromises, but this has been thrown into question by the prospect of a hung Parliament.
“It creates another layer of uncertainty ahead of the Brexit negotiations,” said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at OANDA currency traders.
Despite campaigning against Brexit, Labour accepted the result, but promised to avoid a “hard Brexit”, focusing on maintaining economic ties with the bloc.
Barely a month ago, the centreleft party seemed doomed to lose the election, plagued by internal divisions over its direction under veteran socialist Corbyn.
But May’s botched announcement of a reform in funding for elderly care, plus a strong grassroots campaign by Corbyn that energised the youth vote, gave him momentum. AFP
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