Tories reduced to one-seat majority in U.K. Parliament

LONDON — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s governing Conservative Party has a lost a special election, leaving it with a wafer-thin working majority in Parliament of just one vote.

Jane Dodds of the opposition Liberal Democrats won the Brecon and Radnorshire constituency in Wales with 43 per cent of the vote. Conservative Chris Davies, who was fighting to retain the seat after being ejected for expenses fraud, got 39 per cent.

The pro-EU Liberal Democrats have seen their support surge across Britain as Brexit looms.

The result, announced early today, makes it harder for Johnson’s government to pass laws and win votes, with Brexit less than three months away.

Johnson said Britain will leave the European Union on Oct. 31, with or without a divorce deal. But Parliament is likely to try to thwart his plans.

Thursday’s election was triggered when Davies was dumped by a petition of electors after being convicted of a £700-pound ($1,120 Cdn) expenses fraud.

In Britain’s 2016 referendum on leaving the European Union, the Brecon constituency — a hilly, largely rural area 280 kilometres west of London — voted by 52 per cent to 48 per cent to leave the EU, an outcome that matched the national result.

As in the rest of the U.K., the area’s voters remain deeply divided over the decision — and over the fact that, three years later, Britain is still a member of the 28-nation bloc.

The Conservatives hope Johnson’s commitment to complete Brexit “come what may” will neutralize a challenge from the new Brexit Party, led by longtime euroskeptic Nigel Farage.

The centrist Liberal Democrats now hold 13 of the 650 seats in the House of Commons.