British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has swept the general elections, winning more than 360 seats in the 650-member House of Commons. The landslide win for the Conservatives will solve the three-year-long Brexit gridlock and take the United Kingdom out of the European Union within weeks. Jeremy Corbyn, whose Labour party was reduced to 200 seats, has said he will not face another election as Labour leader.
"The people of this country have given us tonight a huge great stonking mandate ... They've given us this mandate of course because they want us to do one thing, which you all know, they want us to get Brexit done," Johnson told party workers, Reuters reported. he also said in the victory speech that Britain has seen the 'new dawn.' "The people want change ... We cannot and we must not let them down," the PM said.
With results yet to arrive from only two seats, the Conservatives have a majority of 76 seats. The Scottish National Party (SNP) got 44 seats, bolstering the demand for a second referendum on the Scotland independence. The Liberal Democrats got 11 seats while the DUP got only 8.
Earlier, exit polls had shown that the Conservatives would win the historic UK elections by a landslide. As early results were announced the Conservatives had retaken a host of seats from Labour strongholds, indicating the way the electoral choice of the people has gone.
One of the exit polls said the Conservatives would win a landslide 368 seats. The party that wins 326 seats in the House of Commons can form the government. If Johnson returns to power following his 20-week stint as the prime minister, he will quickly ratify the Brexit deal he agreed with the EU, leading to Britain's exit from the EU by January 31.
As per the exit poll by BBC, the Labour were forecast to win 191 seats, while the Liberal Democrats were poised to win only 13 seats. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn faced calls to quit in the aftermath of the exit polls, the report said.
In another major development, the poll also said the Scottish National Party (SNP) would win a landslide 55 out of the 59 seats in Scotland. If this happens, they will demand a second independence vote to cede from Britain.
The exit poll by BBC/ITV/Sky says that the Conservatives would win a majority of 86 seats. As per this poll, the Labour could actually lose as many as 71 seats from their current tally. If the election produces results on the lines of the exit poll, the Tories would mark their the biggest victory since 1987 while the Labour would stare at their worst defeat since 1935.
All about Brexit
UK election 2019 was mostly about Brexit. The United Kingdom European Union membership referendum took place on 23 June 2016. As many as 51.9 percent of votes were in favour of Britain leaving the EU. Prime Minister David Cameron, who argued against Brexit, resigned on June 24. Theresa May became the prime minister and she held a snap election in 2017 in orfer to break the Brexit stalemate. But she failed to win a majority and the Brexit conundrum haunted her during the rest of her tenure and ended with her resignation this year.
While Johnson categorically said he will push ahead with his own Brexit deal if he returns to power, Jeremy Corbyn said the verdict will be 'against the establishment'. A Labour win would see a rethink on the Brexit and a possible scrapping of the deal to exit the EU.
