UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s ruling Conservative Party has failed to win an overall majority in parliament, and the country is now set for a hung parliament, media reports said on Friday.
With 629 results in out of the total 650, the latest party figures are: Conservatives: 42% (up 5); Labour Party 40% (up 10); Liberal Democrats 7% (down 1); Scottish National Party (SNP) 3% (down 2); UK Independent Party 2% (down 11); and Greens Party 2% (down 2), reports the Guardian.
With no clear winner emerging from Thursday’s parliamentary election, a wounded May signaled she would fight on, despite losing her majority in the House of Commons. Her Labour rival Jeremy Corbyn said she should step down.
With 643 out of 650 seats declared, the Conservatives had won 313 seats and were therefore no longer able to reach the 326-mark they would need to command a parliamentary majority. Labour had won 260 seats.
According to the BBC, the hung parliament would be a humiliation for Prime Minister May, who chose to call Thursday’s snap general election to try to strengthen her hand in talks with the European Union over Britain’s exit from the 27-nation bloc.
Corbyn urged May to resign soon after exit polls on Thursday night indicated a gain for the opposition party, but she said her party would “ensure” stability in the UK.
“At this time more than anything else, this country needs a period of stability,” May said.
“And if, as the indications have shown and if this is correct that the Conservative Party has won the most seats and probably the most votes, then it will be incumbent on us to ensure we have that period of stability—and that is exactly what we will do,” the BBC quoted the Prime Minister as saying.
Meanwhile, analysts at global bank Citi said they expect May to resign on Friday as Prime Minister once the final results are announced by lunch time. They said the hung Parliament makes both a “soft” Brexit (staying in the single market) and a chaotic Brexit (no deal) more likely than before.
SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon said the election “has been a disaster for Theresa May”, reports the BBC. Leader of UK Independence Party Paul Nuttall tweeted: “If the exit poll is true then Theresa May has put Brexit in jeopardy. I said at the start this election was wrong. Hubris.”
The biggest shock so far has been the Liberal Democrat MP Nick Clegg losing his seat to a Labour candidate. He was deputy prime minister of the UK from 2010 to 2015 in a coalition government with the Conservatives. Former SNP leader Alex Salmond was also defeated, losing his seat to a Conservative contender.
A total of 650 Westminster MPs will be elected, with about 45.8 million people entitled to vote. A party needs 326 seats to have an overall majority.
May had spent the campaign denouncing Corbyn as the weak leader of a spendthrift party that would crash Britain’s economy and flounder in Brexit talks, while she would provide “strong and stable leadership” to clinch a good deal for Britain.