The conservative leader won an absolute majority in the British parliament, Thursday 12 December 2019, unheard of since Margaret Thatcher. Now to finally achieve Brexit.
Brexit will take place 31st January 2020. It is the mandate from British voters to the Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who won Thursday 12th December 2019 a resounding victory in parliamentary after more than three years of divisions and psychodrama around from leaving the EU.
With a poll out of the polls giving them an unprecedented majority since Margaret Thatcher, and initial results attributing them to workers’ ridings held for decades by Labour, the success of the Conservatives is significant.
357 seats
The Tories won 357 seats (against 298 currently) out of 650, according to a BBC / ITV / Sky News poll updated at 03:00 GMT, after a campaign focused on achieving Brexit, voted 52% of the vote in June 2016, to end 47 years of a tumultuous marriage with the European Union
Latest BBC #GE2019 forecast:
• Conservatives 357
• Labour 201
• SNP 55
• Lib Dems 13
• Plaid 4
• Greens 1
• Others 19Live results: https://t.co/uccZxsVD7v #BBCElection pic.twitter.com/3pn2XisZGn
— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) December 13, 2019
This “strong new mandate (…) gives this new government the opportunity to respect the democratic will of the British people,” said Boris Johnson, also re-elected in the constituency of Uxbridge and South Ruislip, west of London.
In opposition, Labor fell to 201 seats (versus 262), a slap for party leader Jeremy Corbyn, 70.
I promised @UKLabour would run the biggest people powered campaign our country has ever seen.
And you, our members and supporters, have done just that.
You’re the heart of our party, and you have campaigned tirelessly to win so we can a build a fairer country.
I thank you all. pic.twitter.com/Pic0pw9FCU
— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) December 12, 2019
“Very disappointed”, the Labour leader now on an ejection seat, announced that he will “not lead the party to the next elections” and wanted his party to start a “reflection on the result of the election and on its future policy”. Little consolation, he was elected for the tenth time in the London constituency of Islington north.
« Clarification »
The most unpopular opposition leader ever recorded in the polls, Jeremy Corbyn paid for his ambiguous position on leaving the EU, which he personally refused to vote on. He wanted to renegotiate a new, more social divorce agreement, then submit it to the British with the alternative of staying in the EU.
But the results that fell over the night confirmed a clear decline in Labour, which lost symbolic strongholds, like the city of Workington. A think tank had identified “Workington’s man”, a white, elderly, uneducated, pro-Brexit man as the key voter to win the poll.
Conservative Party set to win majority in #GE2019, according to exit poll for BBC, ITV & Sky#BBCElection latest: https://t.co/DtxS5EEsxw pic.twitter.com/BvJtazyOiK
— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) December 12, 2019
“Conservatives now represent many low-income households, people who work in manufacturing and traditional industries in central and northern England,” Professor Tony Travers of the London School of Economics told AFP. (LSE).
In Brussels, where European leaders are meeting at the summit, France welcomed a “clarification”.
Brexit already postponed three times
Until now, Boris Johnson had not succeeded in getting Parliament to adopt the divorce agreement he had negotiated with Brussels, for lack of a majority in the House of Commons.
During the electoral campaign, the 55-year-old leader promised to submit this agreement to deputies before Christmas with the aim of implementing Brexit in late January. Scheduled to depart on March 29, it has been postponed three times.
Boris Johnson has benefited from a boost from the Brexit Party, led by the europhobe Nigel Farage, who is expected to fall short after having withdrawn from many constituencies so as not to divide the pro-Brexit vote.
This victory for Boris was hugely helped by us and is far better than the Marxist Corbyn and a second referendum.
— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) December 12, 2019
What does this have to do with the EU?
Achieving Brexit must make it possible to turn the page and tackle British “priorities”, such as health, security and infrastructure, said the head of government.
But Boris Johnson will also have to specify what type of relationship he wants to establish with the European Union. From the UK out of the EU will open difficult negotiations on this subject, expected to be concluded by the end of 2020. Mission impossible given the complexity of the subject, say many analysts.
The new deputies will sit on Tuesday and Boris Johnson will decline their legislative program for them through the Queen’s traditional speech on Thursday.
Scottish nationalists leap
For the pro-EU, the hope of preventing Brexit has vanished with the defeat of Labor and the failure of the Liberal Democrats. The latter had campaigned to stop simply leaving the EU but failed to mobilize and their chief, Jo Swinson, even lost in battle the seat it had held for almost twelve years in Scotland .
On the left, the Scottish nationalists of the SNP jumped from 20 to 55 seats, according to the poll out of the polls. They intend to build on this result to call for a second referendum on the independence of Scotland, which is largely hostile to Brexit, although Boris Johnson is firmly opposed to such a consultation.
Not believing in a significant advance from the SNP, the former head of the Tories in Scotland, the popular Ruth Davidson, had promised to swim naked in Loch Ness if they exceeded the 50 elected mark. Case to follow.
