The Conservative Party swept to power yesterday in Britain’s parliamentary elections, winning an unexpected majority that returns British Prime Minister David Cameron to No. 10 Downing Street in a stronger position than before.
After meeting with Queen Elizabeth II yesterday afternoon, Cameron returned to his office to announce he would form a majority Conservative government.
In remarks outside, he signaled a conciliatory tone, congratulating his former coalition partner, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, and opposition Labour Party leader Ed Miliband. Both resigned as leaders yesterday after disappointing election results for their parties.
Photo: Reuters
“We can make Britain a place where a good life is in reach for everyone who is willing to work and do the right thing,” Cameron said.
Cameron promised to govern as the party of “one nation, one United Kingdom,” bringing the election to a much-quicker-than-expected conclusion.
Polls ahead of the election had shown the Conservatives locked in a tight race with the Labour Party, raising the possibility of days or weeks of negotiations to form a government.
Labour took a beating, mostly from energized Scottish nationalists, who pulled off a landslide in Scotland.
“I’m truly sorry I did not succeed,” Miliband said. “We’ve come back before and this party will come back again.”
With the Conservatives winning an outright majority in the 650-seat House of Commons, the election result looked to be far better for him than even his own party had foreseen. With 643 constituencies counted, the Conservatives had 326 seats to Labour’s 230.
The prime minister beamed early yesterday as he was announced the winner of his Witney constituency in southern England.
“This is clearly a very strong night for the Conservative Party,” he said.
Cameron, who is the first Conservative prime minister to win a second term since Margaret Thatcher, vowed to counter the rise of Scottish nationalism with more powers for Scotland and Wales.
“I want my party, and I hope a government that I would like to lead, to reclaim a mantle that we should never have lost — the mantle of one nation, one United Kingdom,” he said.
Labour was routed in Scotland by the Scottish National Party (SNP), which took almost all of the 59 seats.
SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon told the BBC that the vote represented “a clear voice for an end to austerity, better public services and more progressive politics at Westminster.”
“The Scottish lion has roared this morning across the country,” said former SNP leader Alex Salmond, who was elected in the seat of Gordon.
Cameron’s coalition partner, the Liberal Democrat party, faced electoral disaster, losing most of its seats as a punishment for supporting a Conservative-led agenda since 2010. Clegg did hold onto his seat.
Almost 50 million people were registered to vote in Thursday’s election. Votes in each constituency were counted by hand and the results followed a familiar ritual. Candidates, each wearing a bright rosette in the color of their party, line up onstage like boxers as a returning officer reads out the results.
However, if the form was familiar, the results were often shocking.
Among the early SNP winners was 20-year-old student Mhairi Black, who defeated Douglas Alexander, Labour’s 47-year-old foreign policy spokesman and one of its most senior figures.
Black is the youngest British lawmaker since 13-year-old Christopher Monck entered parliament in 1667.
One of the big losers of the day was UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage, who resigned after losing his race. His party ran third in the opinion polls, but by early yesterday had won only one seat because its support was spread out geographically.
Britain’s economy — recovering after years of turmoil that followed the 2008 financial crisis — was at the core of many voters’ concerns. The results suggest that many heeded Cameron’s entreaties to back the Conservatives as the party of financial stability.
Public questions at television debates made plain that many voters distrusted politicians’ promises to safeguard the economy, protect the National Health Service from severe cutbacks and control the number of immigrants from eastern Europe.
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