London, United Kingdom. Recent terrorist attacks and issues with proposed UK troop contributions to America’s occupation of Afghanistan, may have torpedoed Theresa May’s snap election 2017 outcome.
If the numbers are correct, Theresa May played a high-risk political game and has lost it – she didn’t have to call this election, and only did so in order to give herself a mandate and breathing space during the bumpy ride of Brexit.
A few weeks ago at the start of all of this she seemed unassailable, but a shaky campaign and an insurgent Labour Party may have dashed the Tories’ hopes. Combined with an uncertainty embued by terrorist attacks, the brexit and American demands for upwards of 5000 British troops for occupation duty in Afghanistan and what looked like a sure re-election, went flying away, gone with the wind.
Prime Minister Theresa May, re-elected as Maidenhead MP with 64.8% of the vote, says “this country needs a period of stability” and if the Tories have won the most seats “it will be incumbent on us to ensure we have that period of stability”. May said, trying to put a positive spin on the outcome, that left her with a loss of 15 seats total.
With the majority of results in News Front has updated its forecast for the final result. It is predicting 316 seats for the Conservatives, down 15 on 2015, 265 for Labour – up 33 seats, 32 seats for the SNP, a loss of 24 seats, the Lib Dems up three to 11 seats, Plaid Cymru remaining on three seats, the Greens on one, UKIP on none and 18 seats to other parties.
Some of the biggest losers in yesterdays election included; Former Lib Dem Leader and former deputy PM Nick Clegg lost his Sheffield Hallam seat to Labour’s Jared O’Mara. Noteworthy, was the loss of Treasury minister Jane Ellison who lost her Battersea seat to Labour’s Marsha De Cordova, on a 10% swing from the Tories to Labour.
Gone but not forgotten was SNP leader in Westminster, Angus Robertson who lost his seat to the Conservatives’ Douglas Ross, who won 48% of the vote.Cabinet Office Minister Ben Gummer, author of the Conservative manifesto, loses his Ipswich seat to Labour on a swing of 4.6%, and former SNP leader and former first minister of Scotland Alex Salmond is unseated in Gordon by the Conservatives’ Colin Clark.
The big winner had his say, Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn, on being re-elected to his Islington North seat, said “people have had quite enough of austerity politics” and Mrs May should “go and make way for a government that is truly representative of this country”.