Divisions over Britain’s exit from the European Union are once again dividing Conservatives, leaving Prime Minister Theresa May with no good options. Read more
May Has No Good Options to Heal Party Rift on Brexit
Theresa May
Theresa May Repeats Alexis Tsipras’ Mistake
When Greece resisted demands for spending cuts from its creditors last year, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras appealed to the president of the European Council, Donald Tusk, for talks with the other 27 heads of government.
His hope was that fellow leaders would be more sympathetic than the technocrats of the “troika”: the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
Tusk rebuffed him and reminded Tsipras that the troika had been delegated by national leaders to monitor Greece’s bailout. The whole point of putting bureaucrats in charge was to avoid the politicians being tempted to cut Greece some slack.
Theresa May clearly hasn’t learned Tsipras’ lesson. Read more
Defeat Makes It Harder for May to Navigate Brexit Demands
Theresa May’s election defeat has left her Brexit strategy at the mercy of a divided Tory Party.
May called the election to strengthen her hand but now has even less room to maneuver.
Her Conservatives went down from 330 to 317 seats on Thursday, nine short of a majority. She is forced to rely on the hard-right Democratic Unionist Party of Northern Ireland and its ten lawmakers to stay in power.
As a result, both pragmatists, who campaigned against Brexit, and hardliners, who want a complete break with the EU, can hold the government hostage. Read more
May to Stay in Power with Support of Northern Ireland Unionists
- Britain’s ruling Conservatives have lost their majority in Parliament, going down from 329 to 318 seats.
- But they should be able to govern with support from the Democratic Unionist Party of Northern Ireland, which has ten seats. Read more
What Britain’s General Election Result Means
Britain’s ruling Conservatives are projected to lose control of Parliament. The exit poll for Thursday’s election shows them falling from 330 to 314 seats. Twelve more are needed for a majority.
Assuming the exit poll isn’t too far off, what does this mean for Britain’s next government, its major political parties and the process of divorcing the United Kingdom from the EU? Read more
Conservatives Lose Majority in British Election
- Britain’s ruling Conservatives have lost their majority in parliamentary elections, but they remain the largest party with 317 out of 650 seats.
- They can probably stay in power with the support of the Democratic Unionist Party of Northern Ireland, which has ten seats.
- Labour won 40 percent support nationwide and 261 seats, up 29. Read more
Both Conservatives and Labour Have Left the Center Wide Open
Before Labour started to catch up with her in the polls, it seemed Theresa May could have it both ways.
The Financial Times argued that her “Global Britain” vision, of free trade and friendship with the rest of the world, was at odds with cutting immigration to an arbitrary tens of thousands and pushing for a “hard” Brexit.
Yet voters seemed to like it. One poll had the Conservatives at nearly 50 percent support. Labour was down to 25 percent as recently as four weeks ago.
The Financial Times warned, though (as did I), that there were policy gaps “in what used to be known as the center ground.” Liberal cosmopolitanism did not have an active voice. Read more