In U.K, May tries to carry on
PM seeks coalition with small Northern Ireland party after losing majority
LONDON — In a political drama both brutal and surreal, British Prime Minister Theresa May tried Friday to carry on with the business of governing as usual, while her Conservative Party reeled from losing its parliamentary majority and her opponents demanded she resign.
An election that May called to strengthen her hand as Britain leaves the European Union ended with her days in office likely numbered and the path to Brexit more muddied than ever.
Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn savoured a strong result and basked in the adulation of an energized, youthful base.
British newspapers summed it up in a word: Mayhem.
May soldiered on Friday, re-appointing senior ministers to her cabinet and holding talks with a small Northern Irish party about shoring up her minority government.
“I obviously wanted a different result last night,” a grimfaced May acknowledged, promising she would “reflect on what happened.”
With results in from all 650 House of Commons seats after Thursday’s vote, May’s Conservatives had 318 — short of the 326 they needed for a majority and down from the 330 seats they had before May’s roll of the electoral dice.
Labour had 262, up from 229, and the Scottish National Party 35, a loss of about 20 seats that complicates the party’s plans to push for independence.
Speaking outside 10 Downing St., May promised to form “a government that can provide certainty.”
She said the government would start Brexit negotiations with the EU as scheduled in 10 days.
“This government will guide the country through the crucial Brexit talks … and deliver on the will of the British people by taking the United Kingdom out of the European Union,” she said after visiting Buckingham Palace to inform the Queen that she would try to form a new government.
This is the first time since the 1990s that Britain has a minority government, in which the governing party cannot get measures though Parliament without outside support. May said she was in talks with the Democratic Unionists — a socially conservative, pro-British Protestant party in Northern Ireland led by Arlene Foster — on a deal to “work together in the interests of the whole United Kingdom.”
Cutting a deal with the DUP, which won 10 seats, might not be straightforward. The party’s opposition to abortion and samesex marriage places it at odds with modernizing Conservatives.
In the Conservative Party, recriminations were immediate and stinging. Many analysts said it was unlikely May could remain leader for long.