Mehr News Agency – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson‘s ruling Conservative Party won a huge majority in the parliamentary election, according to exit polls. By early Friday morning, the Conservatives had secured 358 of the 650 seats in the House of Parliament, well ahead of Labour’s 203 seats, according to CNN. It was a crushing defeat for the opposition Labour Party, whose leader, Jeremy Corbyn, said he would step down after a “process of reflection.”
Meanwhile, the leader of the pro-Remain Liberal Democrat party, Jo Swinson, lost her seat with 11 seats, as the Scottish National Party swept the board in Scotland with 48 seats.
Johnson had called for the general election in order to break a deadlock in parliament, which had blocked the country’s withdrawal from the European Union, more than three and a half years after the Brexit referendum in 2016. Now, the results of the election would give Johnson a comfortable majority in the House of Commons and pave the way for Brexit to take place at the end of January.
The prime minister, who will remain in power, arrived at the party headquarters on Friday, saying, “This One Nation Conservative government has been given a powerful new mandate to get Brexit done, unite this country and move it forward.” Johnson’s deal for a withdrawal from the European Union has been agreed to in principle by the Parliament but is yet to be fully ratified by lawmakers.
