LONDON, Dec 13 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Boris Johnson returned to Downing Street with a big majority after the Conservatives swept aside Labour in its traditional heartlands.
With just a handful of seats left to declare in the general election, the forecasts are a Tory majority of 78.
The prime minister said it would give him a mandate to “get Brexit done” and take the UK out of the EU next month.
Jeremy Corbyn said Labour had a “very disappointing night” and he would not fight a future election.
The BBC forecast suggests the Tories will get 364 MPs, Labour 203, the SNP 48, the Lib Dems 12, Plaid Cymru four, the Greens one, and the Brexit Party none.
That means the Conservatives will have their biggest majority at Westminster since Margaret Thatcher’s 1987 election victory.
Labour, which has lost seats across the North, Midlands and Wales in places which backed Brexit in 2016, is facing its worst defeat since 1935.
Addressing cheering party workers at Conservative headquarters, Johnson said there has been a political earthquake, with the Tories winning a “stonking” mandate, from Kensington to Clwyd South.
Speaking earlier at his count in Uxbridge, west London, where he was elected with a slightly higher majority, Johnson said: “It does look as though this One Nation Conservative government has been given a powerful new mandate to get Brexit done.”
Johnson became prime minister in July without a general election, after the Conservative Party elected him as leader to replace Theresa May.
Speaking at his election count in Islington North, where he was re-elected with a reduced majority, Corbyn said Labour had put forward a “manifesto of hope” but “Brexit has so polarised debate it has overridden so much of normal political debate”.
Labour’s vote is down around 8% on the 2017 general election, with the Tories up by just over 1% and the smaller parties having a better night.
In other developments: Jo Swinson – who only became Lib Dem leader in July and began the election campaign by saying she aimed to be prime minister – lost her Dunbartonshire East seat to the SNP by 149 votes
Meanwhile, Nigel Dodds, the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party at Westminster, lost his Belfast North seat to Sinn Fein.
In Scotland, the picture is quite different.
The SNP have come close to sweeping the board – gaining seats from all their rivals.
A Tory majority at Westminster means one constitutional quarrel – Brexit – might be over, but another – on Scottish independence – will be back with a vengeance.
Scottish National Party leader and Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said it had been an “exceptional night” for her party.
She said Scotland had sent a “very clear message” that it did not want a Boris Johnson Conservative government and the prime minister did not have a mandate to take Scotland out of the EU.
It was also a “strong endorsement” for Scotland having a choice over its own future in an another independence referendum, she added.
Downing Street said earlier that if Johnson was returned to Downing Street, there would be a minor cabinet reshuffle on Monday.
A major reshuffle would take place in February, after the UK has left the EU, No 10 added, with a Budget statement in March.
This is the UK’s third general election in less than five years – and the first one to take place in December in nearly 100 years. — NNN-AGENCIES
