Britain’s voters have delivered a stunning blow to Prime Minister Theresa May, virtually wiping out her parliamentary majority in an election that was supposed to strengthen her grip on power.
May called the election three years earlier than required by law, convinced by opinion polls that placed her far ahead of opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn.
But after a faltering campaign marred by political U-turns and two terror attacks, May’s Conservative Party were on course to fall short of an overall majority, results and predictions suggested.
The Conservatives were likely to end up with the most seats in Parliament, but could suffer the indignity of being forced to court minority parties to keep May and her party in power.
Senior Conservative figures were openly speculating that May would have to resign, less than a year after taking over from David Cameron, who resigned following the Brexit referendum.
George Osborne, the former finance minister who stepped down at the election, told ITV that the results were “catastrophic” for his party. Anna Soubry, a Conservative MP, said May would have to consider her position.
The result appeared certain to plunge the UK into another period of political uncertainty, with formal Brexit talks due to start in 10 days’ time. The pound fell on currency markets in the wake of the results.
Corbyn calls for May’s resignation
After the result was declared in her constituency of Maidenhead, May gave a faltering speech. “At this time more than anything else, this country needs a period of stability,” she said, suggesting she would attempt to form a government even if her party loses its majority.
Corbyn said the early results showed May had lost her mandate and called for her to resign.
“People have said they have had quite enough of austerity politics,” he said, repeating his campaign promises to push for better funding for health and education.
There were upsets elsewhere in the UK: In Scotland. the Scottish National Party was on course for significant losses. The former leader, Alex Salmond, lost his seat, as the Conservative Party made some rare gains in Scotland.
The anti-Brexit Liberal Democrat Party did not make its hoped-for inroads. Former leader Nick Clegg, a former Deputy Prime Minister, lost his Sheffield Hallam seat. Tim Farron, the current leader, retained his seat with only a narrow majority.
Home Secretary Amber Rudd, one of May’s closest allies, barely held onto her seat of Hastings and Rye, after a recount put her just over 300 votes ahead of the Labour candidate.
Commentators agreed the results were bad for the prime minister. “This is a major disaster for her personal authority over the country and the Conservative Party, particularly because she made this election all about her ‘strong and stable’ leadership,” Jane Merrick wrote for CNN. “She made the election a referendum on Theresa May and she has lost.”
Brexit talks could derail
The BBC’s latest projections predict the Conservatives will get 318 of Parliament’s 650 seats, marking a loss of 13 seats. Labout is tipped to win 262, sweeping up 30 extra seats.
One of many key questions for the coming days will be what approach is taken to the Brexit negotiations, even if May stays as prime minister.
She had promised a “hard Brexit” if Britain did not like the terms of the divorce negotiated with the EU. She vowed to take the country out of the EU’s single market and customs union, essentially a free-trade zone, radically changing Britain’s relationship with one of its biggest trading partners.
Tough campaign
May experienced a gradual slide during the campaign period, in which a wide gap between the Conservatives and Labour narrowed.
Predictions of Conservative success became more modest as the party’s campaign faltered following a series of missteps.
May was criticized for making a number of U-turns on social welfare and she came under fire for a controversial proposal on who should pay for the cost of care for the elderly, a policy that became known as the “dementia tax.”
Her opponents also took issue with her refusal to take part in a televised debate with other party leaders.
The Prime Minister called what she thought would be a Brexit-focused election, but the issue was quickly overshadowed by security as two deadly terror attacks, in Manchester and London, struck during the campaign period.
The attacks only put May under more scrutiny for national security decisions she made during her tenure as Home Secretary, a role she held for six years in the government of her predecessor, David Cameron.
The attacks triggered a heated debate on whether the police are well-enough resourced to deal with terror threats. Police numbers across the UK were cut by 20,000 under May’s watch as Home Secretary.