In the final stage of the 2017 General Election, the UK government is set to enter a hung Parliament as the Conservatives lose their majority and the Labour Party make surprising gains.
For a party to get a majority and be able to form a government, it must win at least 326 of the House of Commons’ 650 seats. While they remain the largest party, at the time of publishing it is confirmed that it is impossible for the Conservative Party to reach a majority of 326 seats.
The Conservative Party would now need to form a coalition government with another party to form a majority, while were hoping for Labour do the same with other more left-wing parties. However, now Theresa May had headed to Buckingham Palace to meet with the Queen to ask permission to form a new government, with the understanding that she plans to do so in coalition with the DUP.
Either way, this has proven to be an embarrassing blow for Theresa May, who called the snap election with the hope of winning an overwhelming majority. There are now calls for her to resign as Prime Minister.
“The Prime Minister called this election because she wanted a mandate,” said Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn after winning in his seat with 40,000 seats in Islington North. “Well the mandate she’s got is lost Conservative seats, lost votes, lost support and lost confidence.
“I would have thought that’s enough to go, actually, and make way for a government that will be truly representative of all of the people of this country.”
Whatever the final result, our positive campaign has changed politics for the better. pic.twitter.com/EHLta2rnIW
— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) June 9, 2017
At the time of publishing, the final general election results for the major parties were:
Conservative: 315 seats, net change in seats -12
Labour: 261 seats, net change in seats +29
Scottish National Party: 35 seats, net change in seats -21
Liberal Democrat: 12 seats, net change in seats +4
Democratic Unionist Party: 10 seats, net change in seats +2
The percentage of the UK vote is:
Conservative: 42.4%
Labour: 40.1%
Liberal Democrat: 7.3%
Scottish National Party: 3.1%
UKIP: 1.9%
Green Party: 1.6%
Last night saw exit polls predict a very close race and hung parliament, and the actual results appear to have followed suit. An NME-led exit poll of young voters in the 2017 UK general election shows a markedly increased turnout for 18-24 year-olds, with a majority of the youth opting for Labour.
NME has been conducting its own nationally representative, pre-election research. The figures obtained by The Stream has focused on a nationally representative panel of millennials, surveying 1,354 respondents in total, all aged between 18-34. Our poll showed that 56% of 18-34s voted in today’s election, with 53% of those aged between 18 and 24 turning out, +12% points on the audience’s turnout of 41% in 2015. 60% of 18–34s said they voted Labour, with two-thirds of those aged 18–24 voting for Jeremy Corbyn’s party.