MAY IS HUNG OUT TO CRY
Theresa May’s coat on shoogly peg as exit poll says Tories can’t muster a majority, SNP could lose two dozen seats and Labour surge under Corbyn
THERESA May last night looked to have lost the biggest gamble of her political career.
The Tories were predicted to lose their Westminster majority
in an exit poll for the BBC, Sky and ITV – an astonishing success for Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
The survey suggested the UK was heading for a hung parliament in the snap general election.
May called the vote because she wanted to secure a landslide, saying it would strengthen her hand in Brexit talks.
But the poll said the Tories would be 12 seats short of the 326 they need for an absolute majority in the House of Commons.
They would be on 314 with Labour just behind on 266 – up 34 seats on the 2015 vote.
The poll also predicted a disastrous night for Nicola Sturgeon, putting the SNP on 34 seats – down 22 from the landslide victory the Nationalists enjoyed in Scotland in 2015.
But the people behind the projection warned the SNP figure should be treated with caution “for technical reasons”. Voting was expected to be tight in several seats targeted by the Tories.
Meanwhile, the Lib Dems were on 14, Plaid Cymru on three and Greens on one.
If the figures prove accurate it will spark calls for a “progressive alliance” between Labour, the SNP and other left-wing parties – and have major implications for the Brexit negotiations.
And it would almost certainly lead to calls for May to stand down as Prime Minister.
Former Tory chancellor George Osborne said the result would be “completely catastrophic” for May.
He said: “It is early days. It’s a poll. If the poll is anything like accurate this is completely catastrophic for the Conservatives and for Theresa May.
“It’s difficult to see if these numbers were right how they would put together the coalition to remain in office. But equally, it’s quite difficult looking at those numbers to see how Labour could put together a coalition so it’s on a real knife edge.”
SNP depute leader Stewart Hosie brushed over questions about what it would mean for the Nationalists.
But he said: “The main story from this is that Theresa May has given up her majority. She has blown it incredibly.
“It would still point to us winning the election in Scotland, which is difficult to achieve.
“On any coalition, with austerity and hard cuts, it’s difficult to see how we could back the Tories at all.”
But Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser told the broadcaster if the results followed the exit poll it was an “astonishing decline” for the SNP.
A Labour spokesman added: “If this poll turns out to be anywhere near accurate, it would be an extraordinary result.
“Labour would have come from
a long way back to dash the hopes of a Tory landslide.
“There’s never been such a turnaround in a course of a campaign. It looks like the Tories have been punished for taking the British people for granted.”
Former Liberal Democrat leader Menzies Campbell said the poll results showed May’s Brexit strategy had failed and insisted his party would be reluctant to make deals with other parties.
He told BBC News: “Tim Farron made it very clear, he said no pact, no deal, no coalition.”
The exit poll came after Corbyn had made a last-ditch plea to voters to sweep him into No10 on a tidal wave of hope for a better future.
He urged those worn-down by seven years of Tory cuts, wage freezes and a persistent squeeze on living standards to end the misery with a Labour victory.
Quoting Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poem the Masque of Anarchy, about the Peterloo massacre, the Labour leader said: “Rise like lions. We are many, they are few.
“This is a choice about the future of our country, the most important in a generation.”
But he was battling against final day polls that showed May was on course for victory.
Only the Daily Record’s pollster, Survation, predicted a hung parliament.
Earlier yesterday, Corbyn spoke of his pride in democracy as he cast his vote in Holloway, north London.
He smiled, waved and spoke to voters, before speaking of his pride in Labour’s campaign as he left Pakeman Primary School.
He told a huddle of reporters: “It’s a day of our democracy.
“I’ve just voted. I’m very proud of our campaign. Thank you very much.”
Meanwhile, Tory leader May cast her vote at Sonning guide and scout hut. May – a candidate in Maidenhead, Berkshire – was spotted at the polling station with her husband Philip.
She was photographed leaving the venue to prepare for a long and nervous wait for results to start filtering through.
The leaders of Scotland’s political parties also cast their votes on a rainy Scottish morning.
The SNP’s Nicola Sturgeon was joined by husband Peter Murrell at their polling station in Glasgow.
Sturgeon said she was “feeling good” as she arrived to vote at Broomhouse Community Hall in the east end of Glasgow.
She gave a thumbs-up to about a dozen waiting photographers before going inside the hall.
Afterwards, the couple met Glasgow East SNP candidate David Linden and briefly spoke to other voters.
Asked how she was feeling after an intense campaign, Sturgeon said: “I’m feeling good. We’re focused today on getting out the vote. I’m hoping the weather improves as well.”
Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale cast her ballot, smiling as she left the venue at the Wilson Memorial Church in the east of Edinburgh.
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson was accompanied by her partner Jen Wilson and dog Wilson to vote at the Cafe Camino in central Edinburgh.
Asked how she was feeling, Davidson said she “always gets nervous on election days”.
She added: “I hope everyone gets out and votes.”
Scottish Lib Dems leader Willie Rennie voted in Kelty, Fife, while Scottish Greens co-convener Patrick Harvie cast his ballot in Glasgow.
Polling stations closed at 10pm, with declarations in Scotland due to begin filtering through at about 2am.