{"id":54547,"date":"2019-12-13T15:11:35","date_gmt":"2019-12-13T07:11:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=54547"},"modified":"2019-12-13T16:11:17","modified_gmt":"2019-12-13T08:11:17","slug":"update-election-results-2019-boris-johnson-returns-to-power-with-big-majority","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=54547","title":{"rendered":"Update: Election results 2019 – Boris Johnson returns to power with big majority"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With just a handful of seats left to declare in the general election, the forecasts are a Tory majority of 78.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The prime minister said it would give him a mandate to “get Brexit done” and take the UK out of the EU next month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Jeremy Corbyn said Labour had a “very disappointing night” and he would not fight a future election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That means the Conservatives will have their biggest majority at Westminster since Margaret Thatcher’s 1987 election victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo courtesy of Anadolu Agency.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johnson became prime minister in July without a general election, after the Conservative Party elected him as leader to replace Theresa May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Nigel Dodds, the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party at Westminster, lost his Belfast North seat to Sinn Fein.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Scotland, the picture is quite different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SNP have come close to sweeping the board – gaining seats from all their rivals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Tory majority at Westminster means one constitutional quarrel – Brexit – might be over, but another – on Scottish independence – will be back with a vengeance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scottish National Party leader and Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said it had been an “exceptional night” for her party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was also a “strong endorsement” for Scotland having a choice over its own future in an another independence referendum, she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Downing Street said earlier that if Johnson was returned to Downing Street, there would be a minor cabinet reshuffle on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A major reshuffle would take place in February, after the UK has left the EU, No 10 added, with a Budget statement in March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":54580,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[209,291],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54547"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=54547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54547\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/54580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=54547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=54547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=54547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}