May’s UK election gamble backfires as Tories lose majority

The seeds of a dramatic election night which saw the Labour Party make gains and the Tories concede seats were sown in the Welsh mountains when, for reasons we may never know or understand, Mrs May had a surge of confidence while out walking with husband Philip and chose to call an election she had repeatedly told us she would not.

Having called an early election in hopes of getting an increased majority that could have strengthened her hand in Britain’s exit talks with the EU, May instead saw her majority evaporate completely – leaving her fortunes hanging by a thread.

“The British political system is in total disarray”.

She told voters this was all about “a strong and stable government” and emphasized her dependably in the Brexit negotiations.

And Wes Streeting, the Ilford North MP, had said Jeremy Corbyn would not make a good Prime Minister just weeks before the General Election.

She reversed a policy on care for the elderly – dubbed the “dementia tax” by Labour – when it proved unpopular and refused to appear in TV debates with Corbyn.

But on Friday, May said she planned to stick to the timetable for starting the negotiations. It may well be able to form a minority government in the coming days and weeks, but the prime minister’s ability to cling to the keys of Number 10 Downing Street is very much in doubt, and her stated goal of unifying the country behind her ahead of the upcoming Brexit negotiations with European Union leaders is utterly out of reach. Among the most notable was the former Lib Dem leader and deputy prime minister in the 2010-2015 coalition government, Nick Clegg, who lost his Sheffield Hallam seat – which also has lots of students – to Labour’s Jared O’Mara. Blushing, the pastor’s daughter said the worst thing she could think of was running through a farmer’s field of crops as a child.

But the party actually lost seats – ending up seven short of an overall majority, though still the largest single bloc in the British parliament.

The deal means it is highly likely that the expansion of the apprenticeships programme and the introduction of new T-levels will remain key planks of the party’s skills plan, not least because their implementation started before the election was called.

This year’s election took place 104 years to do the day since Emily Davison gave her life to the suffragette cause by jumping in front King George V’s horse at Epsom racecourse in 1913.

Asked if she thought May would be able to stay in her job, the DUP leader told the BBC: “I don’t know”, adding: “I think it will be hard for her to survive”. “I’m not going to rush to hasty judgements or decisions but clearly there is thinking for me to do about the SNP result”. Its casualties included Alex Salmond, one of the party’s highest-profile lawmakers.

“She might start off doing that but the Conservatives might well replace her mid-stream”, he said.

Meanwhile the supposed loser, Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, savored a surprisingly strong result and basked in the adulation of an energized, youthful base.

The Conservatives won 318 seats, which was not quite the 326 they needed to govern alone.

And no matter who you voted for, the result is not what you would have wanted.

In a buoyant mood, Corbyn piled on pressure for May to resign, saying Friday morning that people have had enough of austerity politics and cuts in public spending. The result “makes it more likely that the United Kingdom will have a softer Brexit and will stay within European Union science programmes”, says Nightingale, who was speaking in a personal capacity. “He’s lost, but it means that he’s probably safe from an immediate effort to get rid of him”.

She said that while the full results had yet to emerge, her party seemed to have won the most seats and “it would be incumbent on us to ensure we have that period of stability”.

Former Tory ministers even suggested her U-turn had come too late to avoid damage. Now, he has won it back thanks to the resurgent support of the youth vote. They really turned out in massive numbers.