As Brexit talks loom, UK election leaves May hanging by a thread

I heard a news piece from the UK this morning, with multiple interviews, where the experts opined that Brexit and the terrorist attacks were not paramount in the minds o the voters. Rather their interests were more related to the economy, the state of the NHS and the lack of jobs.  

I think the media likes to think that the terrorist attacks bring fear into the electorate, but it appears that the Brits are made of tougher stuff.

Wonderful.

After 25 years of neo-con, neo-liberal warmongers pushing austerity the first candidate who espouses decent, humane policies turns British politics on its head. Hats off to Corbyn. I'd have voted for him if Mrs.May hadn't changed the law so that British people living outside the UK for 15 years lost their right to vote.

May was the worst Home Secretary and the worst Prime Minister since Thatcher. This surely marks the end of her career. Good riddance. She called this election and pandered to the bigotry of the Brexit far-right but vast numbers of people have rejected her foul vision of the UK, particularly young people. Good for them.

Hey, what happened to that rightist wave sweeping the world?

30,000 plus voters surveyed exiting from 140 odd polling stations, that is a significant swing away from the current status quo. Not to be dismissed lightly. Theresa May position as leader of the Conservative party could well become untenable in a matter of days.

Rather their interests were more related to the economy, the state of the NHS and the lack of jobs. 

Indeed. They don't let external pressure influence the democratic process.

Western electorates refuse to do what they are told these days, gotta love it

The socialist Corbyn, a man who talks incessantly about social justice, won in some of the hottest Brexit seats.

Corbyn won in one seat only, his own constituency of Islington North. The Labour Party won in those 'hottest Brexit seats'.

Labour (as of the time of writing, 4 seats still undeclared) has won 40.1% of the vote and 40.4% of the seats, while the Tories have 42.4% of the vote and 48.7% of the seats.

It's good to see the Nasty Party go down. Pity they didn't go down even further. May hoisted herself with her own petard.

At least they won't be fighting to bring fox-hunting back any time soon.

@fizzbit

Very simple, if you want people to vote for your side, have an MSM fear campaign telling them your side is losing, to a rightist wave sweeping the world.

This sort of right-wing 'anti-MSM' post might be what you're used to pushing under US-related stories, but it makes no sense at all with regards the UK - the UK's media has a strong right-wing bias overall, being mostly owned by Murdoch, Barclay brothers et al, and they most definitely have not been pushing an MSM fear campaign to make people vote left wing. Quite the opposite in fact - but this time it didn't work (Rupert Murdoch is reported to be furious)

What's going on in Scotland? I guess the Tories support up there isn't dead after all. What a shame.

Brexit negotiations are due to begin in Brussels in a little over a week. They will have to sort things out pretty quickly if there's a hung parliament. The hubris of Theresa May in calling this election was astounding.

Jimizo Today  09:02 am JST

Hey, what happened to that rightist wave sweeping the world?

It lost its luster when people saw the incompetent attention seekers riding that wave.

BoJo should have been Tory leader and then this would never have happened.

Elitist, self entitled, racist, xenephobic, lying, oafish Boris Johnson? I'd rather May. And I loathe the Tories.

BoJo should have been Tory leader and then this would never have happened.

Johnson in charge of the Tories is my dream. This idiot will send them flying off a cliff.

The man is an incompetent, self-aggrandizing tit.

seanwd20 Today  10:15 am JST

I wonder how Shinzo will get along with the left-wing Jeremy?

Abe is big on socialism. For his friends and people like to vote LDP, at any rate. It's hard-core capitalism for everyone else.

Jezza had an absolute stormer of a campaign. He's he's put left wing ideas back on the political map. He had to put up with the backstabbers in his own party and the preening liberals in the Guardian newspaper.

A lot of people owe this man an apology. I want to see a front page apology from the Guardian newspaper. We expected the weight of the Tory press attacking him but didn't need that lot piling in too.

He could have achieved even more without these people.

Oh, message to the rightists claiming Brexit was a purely rightist revolt. You're stuck with Trump, who lost the popular vote, as your sole example of the rightist wave.

The socialist Corbyn, a man who talks incessantly about social justice, won in some of the hottest Brexit seats.

Excellent news.

I'd have voted for him if Mrs.May hadn't changed the law so that British people living outside the UK for 15 years lost their right to vote.

This I didn't know. That's just wacked.

I wonder how Shinzo will get along with the left-wing Jeremy?

Very simple, if you want people to vote for your side, have an MSM fear campaign telling them your side is losing, to a rightist wave sweeping the world

I was taking about the trash-talking clown leading the US talking about a rightist movement, not the MSM.

Apparently Oxford Directory/ Oxford University Press will be revising the definition to for the noun Mayhem. I cannot believe the Conservatives have/are winning seats in Scotland.

Well for Nicola Sturgeon and Theresa May, Leon Trotsky could well have a point....  In a serious struggle there is no worse cruelty than to be magnanimous at an inopportune time. 

Oh what to talk about tonight at the Izakaya?

Hopefully Corbyn as PM could steer the way for a Bernie Sanders win in the next upcoming election in the US. What could be better than Corbyn giving May the sack and Sanders giving Trump the boot?

And hopefully more than that, Jimizo. Perhaps less of the bluster, sloganeering, and character attacks and more focus on polices. We shall see.

Yes. It was refreshing. This was a bit more substance over style. I remember the slug Cameron telling Corbyn to put a suit on ( being scruffy is better than putting a tux on and wrecking a restaurant in my opinion ).

A scruffy man with a beard talking about actual policies. How nice.

UKIP are relegated to the fringes now and Nuttall is out. Every cloud and all that...

The biggest winner of the day was democracy. Far more young people let their voice be heard and went out to vote and the high turnout makes the result more in line with the will of the people than is usually the case. I wish this would happen in Japan so that when we turn on the TV we don't see 80 year old politicians who lie through their teeth with every breath and do not care a damn for the future of young people. In the UK, while a lot of uncertainty about Brexit lies ahead under a relatively weak government, there was some great news for 98.2 per cent of voters. UKIP's percentage of the popular vote fell the highest to only 1.8 per cent.

Unelected Treeza with her snap election jumped the shark in spectacular fashion bringing her toxic brand of Mayhem to the UK. The loathsome Tories were supported by diehard, superannuated old fogies who voted for their fatcat usufructs in the few years remaining to them while selfishly pulling up the ladder on the future of the young generations struggling to manage in a rigged class system of exploitation for which the UK is notorious. Fortunately, the young voters turned out in strength to support the one leader with a true vision for a future society for the many. For the moment their path to a brighter future has been blocked by an unelectable, weak and wobbly leader, but her government is just hanging by the thread of the DUP knuckledraggers and will likely soon be severed. Few will shed a tear to see the back of that hardhearted harridan.

Do you reckon the DUP are nuttier than the kippers?

We are through the looking glass. Trump does arms deals with the Saudis and May seeks support of extremists.

Future historians will refer to this alliance as The Bad Friday Agreement.

Future historians will refer to this alliance as The Bad Friday Agreement.

Nice one.

I'd be more comfortable relying on the support of 10 people in an Elmo costumes than these bigoted headbangers.

This is gonna be tight.

May must go.

This is actually heartening news as it demonstrates how democracy is supposed to work in a non-polarized society. If a leader lies, backpeddles, gaffes, disrespects, or patronizes, you punish them severely at the voting booth. This is a sharp contrast to the trainwreck democracy across the pond

Elitist, self entitled, racist, xenephobic, lying, oafish Boris Johnson?

You're right, but his familiar buffoonery might be the only thing the Tories can fall back on. That's twice in a year the voters have rejected the Tory top brass.

Doing a deal with the nutter DUP is like getting in with the Devil. What will May have to offer them to get them onside? It's scary to think about it.

Jezza had an absolute stormer of a campaign. He's he's put left wing ideas back on the political map.

And hopefully more than that, Jimizo. Perhaps less of the bluster, sloganeering, and character attacks and more focus on polices. We shall see.

WWell Ukip's raison d'être was pretty much wiped out by the leave vote.

FFarage is a worm, a despicable excuse of a politician that ran a mile from brexit when it actually happened. Says it all..

Although Labour are celebrating a much improved showing, I've just read it's confirmed to be a Tory/DUP coalition. Hideous. At least the majority is wafer-thin

That said the British electorate seems to have cut off its own nose to spite its own face.

A more measured view might be that after all the austerity cuts, police cuts, closures of A&Es, welfare cuts and the threat of a proposed "dementia tax", the promises not to call a GE... maybe the electorate gravitated towards a politician who refused to play the game.

Party faithfuls are urging her to stay on but already there's the stirrings of an internal power struggle. Ruth Davidson and Boris Johnson are the two names being bandied about. The former would certainly work wonders for the SNP if she's removed from the Scottish independence argument and the latter... ugh.

Do you reckon the DUP are nuttier than the kippers?

If this  Ipsos/ Mori poll-survey for Sky/BBC is accurate, it will present and astounding turn around. From the May 1027 local elections Jeremy Corbyn Labour campaign would yield close to 32 seats from in conservative held in small minority constituencies. Startled and stunned, holding a electronic payout on Labour 230 plus result of 180/1 and a high six figure windfall. Dazed and bewildered. SNP would lose 21 seats, hummm I am struggling to except that though.

May only called an election because she thought she'd win by a landslide.

She said she'd do something to restrict the 'human rights' of foreign criminals. Well, she should have done something during the past decade. She's done nothing. It amazes me how impossible it is to deport illegals - they're bailed out and asked to report regularly to police station. Obviously quite a few just disappear again. It took long enough to get that evil cleric with one eye and the hooked hand sent to America.

And who is going to give the 250 odd million pounds to NHS every week? Wasn't that a Brexit promise?

On televised interviews, May had few answers for the many questions asked if her.

UK voters were 'stunned' by her lack of vision!

This result is not that surprising.....

Alex Salmond lost his seat. Pity it went to the Tories but still fun.

All the Luvvies who threw their toys out of the pram about Brexit decided to vote for the terrorist-lover.

Er, it's been pointed out here before but many, many left leaning voters in the UK voted in favor of Brexit.

And JC had meetings with prominent Republicans, so what? At the very same time Thatcher and co were saying they would not negotiate or hold talks with the IRA - they were. Just kept it quiet from Joe Public.

Interestingly, the Conservatives Maria Gatland (Croydon) is a former IRA member.

That's politics for ya.

Well done, JC. Whatever the outcome.

It's the Scots who have allowed the so-called Conservatives to remain in power with the support of the DUP. Useless May will have to go, but I hope Johnson will not get her job.

A brief guide to the DUP for fellow contributors who may be unaware of their ouevre and outlook.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/who-are-the-dup_uk_593a79c7e4b0b13f2c697d36

Hi Strangerland,

The final terms under which the UK leaves the EU are yet to be negotiated, and the results could turn out a number of very different ways.

In the most extreme case, the UK simply leaves the EU with no agreement or transitional arrangements in place with regards trade, status of EU nationals in the UK or UK nationals in the EU, etc, and completely leaves the single market in every way, shape & form, thus reverting to WHO trade rules for trade with the EU.

Opposite end of the scale is what people often term the 'Norway option' i.e. leaving the EU but remaining in the single market as (or similar to) an EFTA member, as Norway is.

Since the referendum, May has appeared to be steering us towards a hard Brexit; hopefully she (or whichever Tory may succeed her) will now be forced to compromise.

As a remainer, I'm livid that we're leaving the EU, but I've had to accept it; what I now want is for us to at least continue as EFTA members in the single market.

EFTA membership isn't palatable to most Brexiteers, as it wouldn't end free movement for EU nationals; hard Brexit isn't palatable to most remainers, as it takes us out of the single market. Somewhere in there, the govt has to try finding a deal that doesn't leave half of the country furious

Brexit Article 50 negotiations could not proceed in the event of a hung parliament. Neither practical or realistic. Under the circumstances I would suggest a further parliamentary vote for a 2nd referendum could be necessary to further endorse the mandate. Hear that? Popping champagne corks in Brussels maybe?

As much as I like Corbyn, a hung parliament can't be good for the UK. Can it?

Labour party is three or so seat away from securing me a big win. My Father does not approve of gambling and I have to say I feel I have gained in many ways dis-proportionally. So I will spread the win among some more deserving causes.

I can't believe the guy in the Elmo suit only got 3 votes! (Possibly himself and his parents) He sure would've done a much better job than that boring dud May - as pretty much anyone would. She is finished, that's for sure. Corbyn did a very good job, against the odds - shame labour couldn't get another 40-50 seats.

The referendum gave the "forgotten men (and women)" a once in a life-time opportunity to stick it to "their betters". They did so with relish, and still remembering how chuffed they felt giving the grossly over-privileged a kick in the pants, many have seized this rare second opportunity afforded by May's overweening arrogance to savor once again the pleasure of knocking Tory toffs off their pedestal. It appears that the electorate have no stomach for Mayhem's menu of a Full English Brexit with a second helping of austerity for the plebs. Whatever happens next, I look forward to a swift Therexit, so I don't have to see any more the glowering eyes of the stony-hearted Maidenhead Medusa. She has a shameful record as Home Secretary and she was a weak and wobbly PM. Good on the British! Brexit with Trump are toast!

Ok, so the dust has settled and we have a Tory minority government, with 10 DUP votes to prop it up on a vote-by-vote basis. Not a wonderful outcome in my book, and I haven't been joining in the Labour celebrations; Labour didn't win, and the DUP are an antediluvian bunch of knuckle-dragging creationist balaclavas. Hideous for them to hold the balance of power.

But I do hope this leads us away from the extreme Brexit we were careening towards, and towards a more balanced approach, and I certainly look forward future elections. Furthermore the screeching of the tabloids is having less and less influence, Murdoch is fuming, and a Scottish referendum should be kicked to the long grass for now.

Weak, hand wringing and pathetic

That description is far more applicable to May than to Corbyn!

Can't the UK hold another Brexit vote? And then another? And then another?

Yes, in theory, until we've actually left.

What kind of system is that?

Democracy.

There is a 15 - 20 seat margin of error.

The value of sterling could well be a casualty from this remarkable political event. But ultimate the people of the UK will benefit in the medium to long term. Political landslides don't resulting in large majorities amounting to a more just, caring, or stable society.

I've really enjoyed following the results coverage. Can't stop laughing. "Strong and stable", my arse!

Hung parliament - so I'll be seeing you all again on the hustings soon.

I didn't know the result until I heard it on the car radio this morning. I know the BBC were predicting it would be close for the Tories, but wow! I think May can count on the Ulster Unionist MPs but I doubt that will give her the majority she needs...

So what happens now? Do we get a lame duck PM with a minority government? Do we get Corbyn at the head of a massive coalition? (Labour apparently already dismissed a coalition, as did the Liberals)... or do we have to do it all over again?

Meanwhile up here in Scotland the SNP received a wake up call... probably won't put a gag on calls for independence, but it certainly shows that there are a sizable number of people who don't want it with the increase in Labour and Tory seats. And Alex Salmond lost his seat - oh happy day. It won't shut the baw-faced muppet up though.

Interesting days ahead - and rather worrying ones without an effective government.

Bookies offering 4/11 on a minority Tory government and 9/4 on a coalition with any of the NI parties.

@jimizo

Well, there are only 2 parties in NI with any seats, and Sinn Fein doesn't take its seats in Westminster and would never form a Westminster coalition with the Tories (or anyone else), so that 9/4 is on a Tory/DUP coalition - which would have a 2 seat majority by the look of things right now

Beware the ides of March, or June - the case in question for both Theresa May and Nicola Sturgeons, failure to heed the exemplar of a impending mutinous media and a body politic knives drawn.

Sticking my neck out a tad, that error margin could propel Jeremy Corbyn into number 10. Comparisons of Theresa May to Margaret Thatcher is laughable. A remarkable ability to arouse the most negative reaction, adding a naturally elevated level of irritation.

Those exit polls numbers for Scotland are just not real world. Still early days. The pollsters have just not revealed how the error margin has been calculated.

I can't believe the guy in the Elmo suit only got 3 votes!

Well he did have to contend with Lord Buckethead and the Raving Monster Looney Party, as well as May!

Corbyn, a man who talks incessantly about social justice, won in some of the hottest Brexit seats

The BBC coverage a while ago pointed out that many of the marginal seats that went to Labour this time had voted pro-Brexit, but the seats with the biggest swings to Labour, that they were not expected to take, were strongly Bremain.

NNice pic their with a Muppet in the background, kinda sums up the tories. They got in by a fluke last time and proceeded to unleash the brexit catastrophe.

AAnyone know what the Care Bears would do on the brexit front should they be asked to form a government? All I read was Labours spending plans devoid of arithmetic and gave up from there.

TThe slithy toad Farage is already squeaking against a second referendum from under his rock. The so-called right wing movement is more than over and out. I'm gladder than ever to be an expat.

The loathsome Tories were supported by diehard, superannuated old fogies who voted for their fatcat usufructs

Tory MP Nigel Evans thinks it was the 'old fogies' who voted against the Tories because May wants to take away the pensions they have spent a working life paying for:

we basically did a full frontal assault on our core vote which were the elderly. ....instead of talking about the things we thought we were going to be talking about which was Brexit and the strong economy and delivering this clean Brexit for the British people we were talking about social care and whether pensioners would get the winter weather payments and indeed taking lunches off children and fox hunting. It was an amazing own goal. We didn't shoot ourselves in the foot we shot ourselves in the head and to be honest I'm quite astounded that we did as well as we did do.

Just catching up? Here's how the night went - BBC News

Maybe it's the hole in the head that explains why and how May can bring herself to crawl into bed with the young-earther, creationist, anti-abortion, anti-LGBT DUP that was founded by Ian Paisley, a so-called Christian violently opposed to civil rights and one of the instigators of the Troubles.

The term birds of a feather springs to mind.

My crystal ball shows that Brexit will never happen. It is an ironic twist of fate that May must soon sup from the election winner's poisoned chalice which will do ample justice to the schadenfreude of all who abhor her and all her works. The UK is outnumbered 27 to 1 and that self-styled "bloody difficult woman" will most likely meet with humiliation at the hands of a EU that is in no way disposed to give her the triumph of the hardnosed Tory playbook which she has dangled before the noses of the gullible little Englanders. I predict that she, or whoever is the PM in charge of final negotiations, will ultimately concede defeat and crawl back to Canossa (aka Brussels) with a plea to be taken back into the EU fold. Impossible? Well, we all believe what we want to believe, and the wind cries "Mayhem".

Q: Can Brexit be cancelled after Article 50 has been invoked?

Less than 2yrs to go.

I gotta question:

Can't the UK hold another Brexit vote? And then another? And then another?

What kind of system is that?

If a (penitent) UK government requests the EU for reinstatement into the community, some European officials have already hinted, pourquoi pas? There is no precedent for the Tory shenanigans that have caused mayhem among the member states and consequently the procedures to be followed after May's reckless triggering of Article 50 are not set in stone. The 27 member states will respond cautiously and with restraint. Flexibility, cooperation and reconciliation appear to be the principal guidelines for smoothing the ruffled feathers of Little Englanders' national pride and solving differences with the renegade island nation.

It's the Scots who have allowed the so-called Conservatives to remain in power

Sorry about that, Scrote. But as the Conservatives only got 29% of the vote in Scotland, you might say we did our bit. You can't rely on us to sort out all your problems for you. :-)

@ Cleo

No argument with anything you added to the conversation. The demographic of the Tory voter is complex, certainly not just "old fogies" and "Colonel Blimps". The Nasty Party is also famously a hotbed of "young fogies", from broad-spoken Yorkshireman, Willy Hague to gasbag Bullingdon Bojo. Tory stalwarts comprise lace-curtain working-class toffs, petit-bourgeois shopkeepers, wanna-be snobs, public-schooled punters, bizness barons and their minions, and then the usual suspects from Whitehall civil servants to GCHQ crypto -fascists, the officer class, church hierarchy, country squirearchy and "Norman Conqueror" aristos. Little Englanders, Orangemen, John Bulls, Alf Garnetts, xenophobes aka Kippers and latterly Brexiteers bringing up the rear. Have I missed anyone out? Neo-liberals, Blairites, Tory-lites, toxic tabloid ninnies. I suppose this list of the denizens of the Tory big tent is incomplete, but I'll finish with my heartfelt thanks to the young people of the UK whose energy and enthusiasm helped to tear down the stinking doors of the Tory Augean Stables that Thatcher and her ilk established in "England's green and pleasant land".

Sinn Fein have also done well in the elections

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/general-election-2017-sdlp-and-uup-are-wiped-out-in-night-of-turmoil-in-northern-ireland-as-dup-and-sinn-make-gains-35804978.html

Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams made clear there was "no danger whatsoever" of his party ditching its abstentionist policy, even if its seats become crucial in the final shake-down at Westminster.Mr Adams also said he could not see Prime Minister Theresa May surviving in her post.

Maybe it's time for SF to ditch Gerry, though. He's an impediment to the party not an asset.

I do hope this leads us away from the extreme Brexit we were careening towards, and towards a more balanced approach

This is a subject I'm not very up to date on, and therefore not very knowledgeable on. I thought brexit was just brexit, I didn't know there were different approaches to it. What do you mean by this? How can it be more balanced?

As a Catholic I can't say I like the idea of the DUP being involved in government, but it is good to see the Conservatives hold power. The liberal left in government would have been a disaster for the UK. Weak, hand wringing and pathetic lefties we do not need.

BoJo should have been Tory leader and then this would never have happened.  May was a rubbish Home Secretary and is an uninspiring PM.  Memories in politics are short, people obviously falling for the new Cuddly Corbyn as opposed to the old Commie Corbyn.

Although I loathe the political left, the Conservatives only have themselves to blame here. That said the British electorate seems to have cut off its own nose to spite its own face.

So what are the main differences between Labor and Conservatives? Looks like Labor is winning.

Sure would like to visit England someday. Probably not London. I was really surprised to see Freddie Mercury's home on Google Street View blocked out.

Hey, what happened to that rightist wave sweeping the world?

Very simple, if you want people to vote for your side, have an MSM fear campaign telling them your side is losing, to a rightist wave sweeping the world.