« on: December 12, 2019, 10:49:53 PM »
even over there across the pond.
Nemo
https://www.bbc.com/news/election-2019-50765773
The Conservatives have taken a string of former Labour strongholds, with the party forecast to win the general election with a comfortable majority.
Leader Jeremy Corbyn said it was a "very disappointing night for the Labour Party" - and he would not lead it into the next election.
But he said he would stay on while a period of "reflection" takes place.
The BBC is now forecasting the Tories will get a majority of 64, less than the 86 originally predicted.
Labour have lost seats in the North, Midlands and Wales in areas which backed Brexit in the 2016 referendum.
They are set to win 61 fewer seats than in 2017, it is suggested.
Some constituencies, such as Darlington, Sedgefield and Workington, in the north of England, will have a Conservative MP for the first time in decades - or in the case of Bishop Auckland and Blyth Valley - for the first time since the seat was created.
But Labour took Putney, in south-west London, from the Tories.
The Scottish National Party have made their first gains of the night, taking Rutherglen and Hamilton West from Labour and Angus from the Conservatives.
The exit poll taken at 144 polling stations, with 22,790 interviews, has been adjusted to take actual results into account.
It now suggests the Tories will get 357 MPs - 39 more than at the 2017 election - once all the results have been counted.
Labour would get 201, the SNP 55, the Lib Dems 13, Plaid Cymru four, the Greens one, Brexit Party none.
With more than 175 results declared, the average increase in the Conservative vote was 2%, one point above what was expected by the exit poll.
Labour's vote was down on average by 9%, in line with the exit poll prediction.
In Scotland, there has been a 9% increase in the Scottish National Party vote - less than the predicted 13% but the SNP is still on course to get 55 seats.
Conservative Home Secretary Priti Patel said the government will move quickly to "get Brexit done" before Christmas by introducing legislation in Parliament, if it is returned to power.
Former Tory MP Sir Alan Duncan - who has been critical of Boris Johnson - said the prime minister was now the "dominant political figure" in the UK and the election had been a "massive vindication of him as a personality".
He told the BBC: "We'll now be able to govern with a comfortable majority."
A row has already broken out at the top of the Labour Party over who is to blame for what is expected to be its worst general election result in decades.
Leave-supporting Labour chairman Ian Lavery, who held his seat with a reduced majority, said he was "desperately disappointed", adding that voters in Labour's "heartlands" were "aggrieved" at the party's Brexit stance.
Some Labour candidates have criticised Mr Corbyn's leadership.
Gareth Snell, who said he expected to lose Leave-voting Stoke Central to the Conservatives, called for Mr Corbyn and Mr McDonnell to go but also blamed anti-Brexit members of Labour's top team for pushing the party towards a Remain message.
Downing Street said in a statement that if the exit poll is correct, and Mr Johnson returns to Downing Street, there will be a minor cabinet reshuffle on Monday.
The Withdrawal Agreement Bill, paving the way for Brexit on 31 January, would have its second Commons reading on Friday, 20 December.
A major reshuffle would take place in February, after the UK has left the EU, No 10 added, with a Budget statement in March.
'Get Brexit done'
This is the UK's third general election in less than five years - and the first one to take place in December in nearly 100 years - and has been dominated by Britain's 2016 vote to leave the European Union.
Mr Johnson focused relentlessly on a single message - "get Brexit done" - promising to take the UK out of the EU by 31 January 2020 if he got a majority.
Labour primarily campaigned on a promise to end austerity by increasing spending on public services and the National Health Service.
The Liberal Democrats promised to cancel Brexit if leader Jo Swinson became prime minister, but opinion polls suggested their vote was squeezed during the course of the campaign.
The Scottish National Party said a strong vote for them would effectively be a mandate for a second independence referendum.
SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon tweeted that while the exit poll "suggests a good night" for the SNP, she added that "what it indicates UK-wide though is grim".
Caroline Lucas, who the exit poll suggests is set to remain the Green Party's only MP, tweeted: "If this exit poll is right, it's a devastating blow for our climate, for future generations and for our democracy."
Nigel Farage said his Brexit Party had taken votes from Labour in Tory target seats, although he himself had spoiled his ballot paper "as I could not bring myself to vote Conservative".
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