Clear win for Conservatives
Britain votes overwhelmingly in favour of Cameron’s party
PRIME Minister David Cameron’s Conservatives won a surprise and decisive victory in Britain’s general election yesterday, which redrew the political map and could redefine the country’s future in Europe.
Pre-election forecasts of a close contest with the opposition Labour Party turned out to be wide off the mark, after Cameron won a majority in the House of Commons and five more years in Downing Street.
In a dramatic night of results, the nationalists won a historic landslide in Scotland and the leaders of Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the anti-EU UKIP all stepped down after suffering major losses.
“This is clearly a very strong night for the Conservative Party,” Cameron said after being re-elected to his Witney seat in southern England.
He and his wife Samantha lat- er paid a visit to Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace, where he was expected to be reconfirmed as premier and asked to form a new government.
In Witney, Cameron promised to keep his pledge to hold a referendum on membership of the European Union by 2017.
The result is an endorsement of the Conservatives’ austerity programme and is likely to see a continuation of cuts to public spending as they seek to reduce a budget deficit of nearly £90-billion (about R1.6-trillion).
The pound rallied on the currency markets as investors welcomed a clear result and a “business-friendly” government.
Labour leader Ed Miliband admitted it had been “a very disappointing and difficult night” for his centre-left party, in which it lost about two dozen seats, including one held by finance spokesman Ed Balls.
At a press conference in London, a dejected-looking Miliband said he had called Cameron to congratulate him and would now step down to allow someone else to rebuild the party.
“I take absolute and total responsibility for the result,” he said, adding: “It’s time for someone else to take forward the interests of this party.”
Labour was almost wiped out in Scotland, dropping from 41 seats five years ago to just one this time around, as the Scottish Nationalist Party won 56 out of 59 possible seats.
Among the new SNP lawmakers was 20-year-old Mhairi Black, who felled Labour’s campaign chief to become Britain’s youngest MP since 1667.
The success of the SNP could increase pressure for a fresh referendum on Scottish independence, which was rejected last year by 55%of voters.
“It is an extraordinary statement of intent from the people of Scotland,” former SNP leader Alex Salmond said, as he was elected to the northeastern seat of Gordon.
It was also a terrible night for the centrist Liberal Democrats, who by mid-morning had lost all but eight of the 57 seats they won five years ago. Their leader, deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, managed to hold his seat but resigned after voters punished the LibDems for entering government with the Conservatives.