Atlantic Sentinel

Tag: UK Election 2017

Parliamentary elections were held in the United Kingdom on June 8. Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservatives lost their majority in the House of Commons, going down from 330 to 317 seats. Labour went up from 232 to 262. The Atlantic Sentinel endorsed the Liberal Democrats, who won 12 seats, and the Conservatives in Scotland, where they won 13 of the 59 seats.

  • Does the British Election Mean Anything for America?

    Theresa May Donald Trump
    British prime minister Theresa May speaks with American president Donald Trump the Oval Office of the White House in Washington DC, January 27 (10 Downing Street/Jay Allen)

    As always, yes and no.

    Yes, because the ideology of austerity-driven neoliberalism, that which is championed by Theresa May’s suddenly flailing government, is a major component of the ruling Republican Party in the United States. It’s what Paul Ryan, the speaker of the House, believes in: cuts to public services to benefit the private market.

    Yes, because Brexit, the alt-right-driven anti-immigrant, anti-globalization geopolitical self-harm project is propelled by the same forces that elected the current head of the Republican Party, Donald Trump.

    But also no.

    No, because the United States has a monotonous two-party system. (Britain essentially does too, but the Liberal Democrats can and have emerged as a powerful enough force to tip the balance, as they did in 2010.)

    No, because the United States can’t call snap elections and so the mood today is certainly not going to be the mood of fall 2018.

    No as well, because America does not face a credible secessionist threat, as the United Kingdom does in Scotland, nor is the United States able to do anything close to the self-harm of Brexit.

    With that said, there’s a few lessons worth looking into. (more…)

  • Election Divides Kingdom as Parties Consolidate Their Base

    British parliament London
    Westminster Palace in London, England (Unsplash/Matt Milton)

    There is still a lot to digest from last week’s British election. The promised Conservative landslide never materialized. Labour gained seats, including in affluent constituencies like Kensington that it won for the first time, but it also fell short of a majority. Theresa May remains in power but has been weakened. She must rely on the Democratic Unionist Party of Northern Ireland for a majority, which threatens to upset the delicate balance of power in Ulster.

    We can nevertheless say two things with certainty:

    1. The trends spotted in last year’s Brexit vote are accelerating.
    2. The new poles in British politics are consolidating and that leaves the center wide open. (more…)

  • Conservatives Need to Reevaluate Beliefs After Defeat

    Theresa May James Mattis
    British prime minister Theresa May speaks with American defense secretary James Mattis at Lancaster House in London, England, May 11 (DoD/Jette Carr)

    Given the vote share Labour has accrued in England under Jeremy Corbyn, ideas from Britain’s mid- to late-twentieth century are once again mainstream — and they pose an ideological challenge to the liberal consensus that is in many ways deeper than last year’s vote to leave the EU.

    Thursday’s election saw a one-nation-ish Conservative government face off against the most left-wing Labour Party in generations — both the left-wing elements of their parties, so to speak. The center ground thus shifted to the left, not just between cosmopolitanism and isolationism, but between different appraisals of the role of the state. (more…)

  • What Good Is a Two-Party System If It Doesn’t Provide Stability?

    British parliament London
    Westminster Palace in London, England at night, December 21, 2011 (Ben Sutherland)

    There is a lazy assumption in much of the British election coverage that the return of two-party politics was the only good news of the night.

    Between them, the Conservatives and Labour won 82 percent support on Thursday, up from 67 percent in 2015.

    Yet neither party has a majority. The biggest party is in disarray. The second has no way to form a government. It is quite likely there will be another election later this year or next. (more…)

  • Election Exacerbates Britain’s Blue-Red Divide

    Bideford England
    Bideford, England seen from the River Torridge (Shutterstock)

    Britain’s general election result confirms that the political divide in the country has shifted from the traditional left versus right to what I call “blue” versus “red”. (more…)

  • Second Scottish Referendum Unlikely After Voters Punish SNP

    Edinburgh Scotland
    Skyline of Edinburgh, Scotland (Unsplash/Joe Tree)

    A second Scottish independence referendum seems unlikely after the region’s separatists lost almost half their seats in Britain’s general election.

    The Scottish National Party won 56 of Scotland’s 59 seats in Westminster in 2015 but lost 21 of them on Thursday.

    Among those defeated were Angus Robertson, the SNP frontman, and Alex Salmond, the former first minister of Scotland. (more…)

  • May to Stay in Power with Support of Northern Irish Unionists

    Theresa May James Mattis
    British prime minister Theresa May speaks with American defense secretary James Mattis at Lancaster House in London, England, May 11 (DoD/Jette Carr)
    • 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. (more…)

  • What Britain’s General Election Result Means

    Whitehall London England
    View of the Houses of Parliament from Whitehall in London, England (Shutterstock/Alan Copson)

    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? (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.
    • The Scottish National Party has gone down from 56 to 35 seats. A second independence referendum is now unlikely.
    • The centrist Liberal Democrats gained four seats and now have twelve. (more…)

  • Liberal Democrats Are Least Bad Option in Britain’s Election

    British parliament London
    Aerial view of the Palace of Westminster in London, England (iStock/Robert Ingelhart)

    This British election is an impossible choice for liberals.

    We can’t possibly support Jeremy Corbyn, whose policies of nationalization and unilateral nuclear disarmament would compound the disaster of Brexit — which he did far too little to prevent — many times over.

    But we are not impressed with Theresa May either. She was the best candidate to succeed David Cameron, but only because the alternatives were worse. Many British voters could make the same calculation this week. (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. (more…)

  • Knives Will Come Out for May If She Loses Majority

    Theresa May
    British prime minister Theresa May is applauded walking into 10 Downing Street in London, England, July 13, 2016 (10 Downing Street/Tom Evans)

    Theresa May might have been better off not calling an election after all.

    Only a few weeks ago, her Conservative Party was projected to win its biggest majority in a generation.

    Now the gap with Labour has narrowed, mostly as a result of it cannibalizing the Liberal Democrats and Greens.

    One survey has even predicted a Labour victory.

    That seems incredible. I argued here last week that a party led by Jeremy Corbyn is unlikely to prevail.

    But it is now possible the Conservatives will be returned with a smaller majority or even lose control of the House of Commons.

    That could lead to calls for May’s resignation. (more…)

  • Reasons to Doubt Labour’s Poll Surge Will Last

    Britain’s Labour Party has narrowed the gap with the ruling Conservatives in the polls, going up from an average of 25 percent support when Prime Minister Theresa May called an election last month to nearly 35 percent.

    Support for May’s Conservatives hasn’t come down from 45 percent. They are still expected to prevail, but with a smaller majority than seemed likely a few weeks ago.

    Labour’s surge has come at the expense of the Greens and Liberal Democrats, who are both polling in the single digits. (more…)

  • May Adopts Energy Policy Her Predecessor Called “Nuts”

    Theresa May Lars Løkke Rasmussen
    Prime Ministers Theresa May of the United Kingdom and Lars Løkke Rasmussen of Denmark answer questions from reporters in Copenhagen, October 10, 2016 (10 Downing Street/Tom Evans)

    British prime minister Theresa May has adopted a policy her Conservative predecessor, David Cameron, once described as “nuts”.

    When the opposition Labour Party proposed to freeze electricity rates in 2013, Cameron, then the Conservative Party leader, ridiculed it.

    Now May has taken it over.

    She pledged on Tuesday to cap electricity costs for households if she is reelected in June, writing in The Sun tabloid newspaper: “Like millions of working families, I am fed up with rip-off energy prices.” (more…)

  • British Conservatives Turn into UKIP

    Theresa May Lars Løkke Rasmussen
    Prime Ministers Theresa May of the United Kingdom and Lars Løkke Rasmussen of Denmark answer questions from reporters in Copenhagen, October 10, 2016 (10 Downing Street/Tom Evans)

    Matthew d’Ancona writes in The Guardian newspaper that Britain’s Conservatives must be careful not to turn into UKIP as they attempt to defang it.

    “It is one thing to acknowledge electoral anger,” he argues, “quite another to appease it.”

    I wonder if it’s not too late. (more…)