New Delhi:
The Conservative party led by Prime Minister Boris Johnson looks set to return to power in the United Kingdom general election based on the early results poured in on Friday. The Tory’s victory appears to be based mainly on Johnson’s ‘Get Brexit Done’ message. Earlier, an exit poll on Thursday showed the Johnson-led Conservative Party winning 368 seats while Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party bagging 191 seats only.
In a predominantly Tory blue versus Labour red contest, Tories are set to cross the 326-mark required for majority in the 650-member House of Commons. The initial trends meant Johnson’s so-called divorce agreement struck with the European Union (EU) to take the UK out of the 28-member economic bloc set to be turbo-charged to go full speed ahead.
The Labour Party appears to notch one of its worst performances since 1935 as, north England, traditional stronghold of the party seems to have voted strongly on the basis of Brexit. In case of a Labour defeat, the onus will be on Corbyn’s leadership and his failure to take a clear stance on Brexit.
Right after the polls were over, the counting across all the constituencies of the United Kingdom England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland where a total of 3,322 candidates were standing began.
The final tally is expected to begin taking shape in the early hours of Friday.
This has been a hard-fought election in a very cold time of the year because we needed a functioning Conservative majority, said Priti Patel, the senior-most Indian-origin minister in Johnson’s last Cabinet, in response to the exit poll.
We are committed to deliver on priorities and getting Brexit done is a priority. The deal is there, we want to move forward, she added. Brexit has dominated this election.
If the results are anywhere near the exit polls, this is an extremely disappointing result, admitted Labour’s shadow chancellor John McDonnell.
(With PTI inputs)
