Prensa. voanews.com
Britain
has been plunged into political chaos after a shock result in Thursday's
general election that saw the ruling Conservative Party's majority wiped out. Prime
Minister Theresa May called a snap poll hoping to boost her mandate for talks
on Britain's exit from the European Union, due to start next week. But the
Brexit timetable has been thrown into jeopardy as the opposition Labor Party
saw its vote share soar.
May on
Friday resisted calls to quit — calls that came even from senior figures in her
party. After visiting Queen Elizabeth II on Friday, a part of electoral
procedure, May announced she would try to form a minority government supported
by the Democratic Unionist Party, or DUP, from Northern Ireland. "Our two
parties have enjoyed a strong relationship over many years, and this gives me
the confidence to believe that we will be able to work together in the
interests of the whole United Kingdom," May said.
Solid
majority seen vital
The prime
minister maintained that the Brexit talks would begin as planned next week, but
with her party's loss of 13 seats and its parliamentary majority, May will rely
on the support of the DUP vote by vote. That is simply unsustainable, said
political analyst Ian Dunt, author of the book Brexit: What the Hell Happens
Now?
Minority
governments in Britain "have very bad track records — they always get torn
apart. The system doesn't like it. When you're doing that going into Brexit
negotiations — some of the most brutal, arduous negotiations this country has
ever faced — you don't have a chance going up against it without really a
strong majority."
So is
Britain's EU exit now in doubt? No, Dunt said, but May's vision of a so-called
"hard Brexit" — in which the U.K. would most likely leave the single
European Union market, take full control over its borders, strike new trade
deals and apply laws within its own borders — has been rejected.
"She
said, 'Give me a mandate.' And the answer was, 'No.' And that means we have to
rethink everything, the entirety of the way we're doing Brexit," Dunt
said. The Conservatives' losses were largely gains for the Labor opposition,
which defied polls and predictions to gain 29 seats — a vindication for leader
Jeremy Corbyn, whose grip on the party appears to have strengthened.
"We
put forward our policies — strong and hopeful policies — and they've gained an
amazing response and traction," he said.
Youth
vote energized
Among
those was scrapping university tuition fees, which energized the youth vote. As
one teaching student at the University of London told VOA, "I think most
of us here were against Brexit last year. And I don't feel like the current
prime minister or, indeed, the Tory party, has any idea about what to do with
Brexit at the moment."
Elation
in the Corbyn camp is tempered by electoral reality, said Dunt, making a comparison
to last year's U.S. presidential campaign. "In a sort of Bernie Sanders
way, he just created this sort of idealistic momentum around young
people," Dunt said. "He's done something extraordinary. But he still
doesn't have that many seats."
A year
after the Brexit vote, Britain appears as divided as ever — between young and
old, left and right, pro- and anti-Europe. May's campaign catchphrase of a
"strong and stable government" has backfired. Britain looks set for
months of political chaos.