Conservatives Appear to Survive in Britain, SNP Triumphs & A Bad Night for Labour, Lib Dems & UKIP UPDATE
It looks likes David Cameron’s Conservatives will survive albeit fall short of forming a majority government. Nevertheless, it looks like they will gain seats.
When you consider that there was tremendous discontent with Cameron’s leadership and London Mayor Boris Johnson was clipping at his heels, it is triumphant night for Cameron.
But the SNP is arguably the night’s biggest winner. They will capture every constituency in Scotland except the Shetland Islands (a Liberal Democrat stronghold). The Yes side might have lost last fall’s referendum, but their momentum has grown a thousand fold. Nicola Sturgeon plays no small part in this and the more I hear from her the more she impresses me even if I don’t agree with her progressive politics.
There are three big losers tonight – Labour, Liberal Democrats & the UKIP.
Labour lost every single seat in Scotland. I’m sure my old boss & friend Jimmy Wray would be turning in his grave. The Liberal Democrats, after experiencing a breakthrough in 2010, have paid a heavy price for being part of Cameron’s coalition. The UKIP has won two seats, but Nigel Farage will not be one of them. Farage vowed to resign as UKIP leader if he did not win a seat. I wouldn’t be surprised if Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg also tendered their resignations as Labour and Liberal Democrat leaders, respectively.
If the Tories do fall short of a majority and can’t count on the Liberal Democrats, it looks like they will turn to the Democratic Unionist Party in Northern Ireland to put them over the top.
It is projected that the Conservatives will win 316 seats (10 seats shy of a majority), 239 seats for Labour, 58 for the SNP, 10 for the Liberal Democrats, 4 for Plaid Cymru, 2 each for the UKIP and Green and 19 for other parties (including the DUP).
UPDATE: The Conservatives win a narrow majority of 328 seats, 232 for Labour, 56 for the SNP, 8 each for the Liberal Democrats & the Democratic Unionist Party with 15 seats for other parties such as the UKIP, Greens, Plaid Cymru and Sinn Fein (which doesn’t take its seats). Miliband, Clegg and Farage have all resigned. It has been a good night for David Cameron indeed.
This also means President Obama will be happy.
