The Associated Press
Jill Lawless
Danica Kirka
LONDON–British Prime Minister Theresa May’s gamble in calling an early election backfired spectacularly as her Conservative Party lost its majority in Parliament, throwing British politics into chaos.
The shock result could send Britain’s negotiations to leave the European Union–due to start June 19–into disarray.
The pound lost more than two cents against the U.S. dollar.
With 636 of 650 seats in the House of Commons declared, the Conservatives had 310 to the Labour Party’s 258.
Even if the Conservatives won all the remaining seats, the party would fall short of the 326 needed for an outright majority.
Before the election, the Conservatives had 330 seats and Labour 229.
May called the snap election in the hope of increasing her majority and strengthening Britain’s hand in exit talks with the European Union with a “strong and stable government.”
Instead, the result means the Conservatives will need to rely on support from smaller parties to govern, with more instability and the chance of yet another early election.
“This is a very bad moment for the Conservative Party and we need to take stock,” Conservative lawmaker Anna Soubry said.
“And our leader needs to take stock, as well.”
Left-wing Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who was among those calling on May to resign, said this morning that people have had enough of austerity politics and cuts in public spending.
He ruled out the potential for deals or pacts with other progressive parties in Parliament.
“The arguments the Conservative Party put forward in this election have lost, and we need to change,” Corbyn stressed.
The results confounded those who said Corbyn was electorally toxic. Written off by many pollsters, Labour surged in the final weeks of the campaign.
It drew strong support from young people, who appeared to have turned out to vote in bigger-than-expected numbers.
As she resoundingly was re-elected to her Maidenhead seat in southern England, May looked tense and did not spell out what she planned to do.
“The country needs a period of stability, and whatever the results are, the Conservative Party will ensure we fulfil our duty in ensuring that stability,” she vowed.
Many predicted she soon would be gone.
“Clearly if she’s got a worse result than two years ago and is almost unable to form a government, then she, I doubt, will survive in the long-term as Conservative Party leader,” former Conservative Treasury chief George Osborne said on ITV.
British media later reported today that May had no intention to resign.
The result also was bad news for the Scottish National Party, which lost about 20 of its 54 seats.
Among the casualties was Alex Salmond, a former first minister of Scotland and one of the party’s highest-profile lawmakers.
The losses complicate the SNP’s plans to push for a new referendum on Scottish independence as Britain prepares to leave the EU.
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson said the idea of a new independence referendum “is dead.”
“That’s what we have seen tonight,” she added.
May had hoped the election would focus on Brexit but that never happened, as both the Conservatives and Labour said they would respect voters’ wishes and go through with the divorce.
Despite the surprise election result, French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said he doesn’t believe voters have changed their minds about leaving.
But speaking today on Europe 1 radio, he said “the tone” of negotiations may be affected.
“These are discussions that will be long and that will be complex. So let’s not kid ourselves,” he stressed.
“I’m not sure that we should read, from the results of this vote, that Britons’ sovereign decision on Brexit has been cast into doubt in any way.”
EU budget commissioner Guenther Oettinger said the EU is prepared to stick to the timetable that calls for negotiations to start in mid-June, but said it would take a few hours at least to see how the results of the election play out in forming a government.
“Without a government, there’s no negotiation,” he noted this morning by phone on Germany’s Deutschlandfunk radio.
