May’s election gamble goes wrong

British Prime Minister Theresa May’s election gamble has failed disastrously. The consequences are dire for her party and government, and could be equally bad for her country’s relationship with Europe.

May had hoped to increase her Conservative majority in Parliament, and instead has seen it wiped out. The Tories are the largest party in the House of Commons and with the support of Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionists intend to form a government. Directing policy and passing legislation, however, will be vastly harder than before.

This would be a serious problem under any circumstances, as Britain’s previous experience with hung Parliaments suggests. But these aren’t just any circumstances. Brexit talks were due to start in 10 days. May’s effort to prepare for that challenge has left her plans, such as they were, in shreds. The immediate prospect is great political disorder and maximum economic uncertainty.

Such is the humiliation of this setback that May might soon choose — or be forced — to resign. This offers no relief. The task of finding a new leader would only add to the chaos, and there’s no obvious successor capable of uniting the party. But if she hangs on, the question of if and when she goes will linger. Her authority is irretrievably diminished.

It’s possible, in some alternative universe, to see a way forward.

With power in the Commons more evenly divided, the need for cross-party consensus increases. On the biggest and most urgent issue, Brexit, cooperation between the Tories and the Labour opposition shouldn’t be unthinkable: Both parties agree that Brexit should go forward, and neither wants to revisit the decision. There’d be some hope of uniting the country around the goal of a friendlier separation from Europe.

Unfortunately, the Labour Party of 2017 is not the centrist party built by Tony Blair in the 1990s. It is a hard-left party whose organizing principle is militant opposition to Tory rule — and the antipathy is mutual. At the moment, the willing cooperation vital to rescuing Britain from this impasse is all but impossible to imagine.

It will take some time for Britain to absorb the implications of this extraordinary, and in many ways bewildering, election. Another vote, perish the thought, may be the only way to dispel the descending paralysis.

STEFAN ROUSSEAU— PA VIA AP On June 5, Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May speaks during a General Election campaign visit to Clockwork Removals and Storage in Edinburgh.