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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

‘Dis’May after Tories lose majority

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LONDON: British Prime Minister Theresa May on Friday announced a minority government she said would be backed by a small Northern Irish party after she lost an election gamble days before launching talks on Britain’s departure from the European Union.


May had called the snap election confident of increasing her Conservative Party’s majority to strengthen her hand in the Brexit talks, instead, her authority has been diminished.


She now risks more opposition to her Brexit plans from inside and outside her party. Some colleagues may be lining up to replace her, although a party source said the post was seen as too much of a poisoned chalice for the time being.


Her office said later that the key finance, foreign, Brexit, interior and defence ministers would remain unchanged.


The centre-right, pro-Brexit Democratic Unionist Party’s 10 seats are enough to give May’s Conservatives a fragile but workable partnership, which May said would allow her to negotiate a successful exit from the EU.


The DUP itself said only that it would enter talks and it was not immediately clear what its demands might be.


Since any deal is not expected to involve a formal coalition, such talks may not hold up the formation of government.


EU leaders expressed fears that May’s shock loss of her majority would delay the Brexit talks, due to begin on June 19, and so raise the risk of negotiations failing. With 649 of 650 seats declared, the Conservatives had won 318 seats. A surprise resurgence by the Labour Party gave the main opposition party 261 seats, followed by the pro-independence Scottish National Party on 34. Labour’s leftwing leader Jeremy Corbyn, once written off by his opponents as a no-hoper, said May should step down and that he wanted to form a minority government.


The pound hit an eight-week low against the dollar and its lowest levels in seven months versus the euro before recovering slightly on news she would form a DUP-backed government.


After winning his own seat in north London, Corbyn said May’s attempt to win a bigger mandate had backfired.


Corbyn would be unlikely to win backing for a minority government, but was clearly revelling in a storming performance after pundits had pronounced the Labour Party all but dead. Ruth Davidson, leader of the Conservative Party in Scotland, where its candidates performed well, said the election results showed that the Conservatives should prioritise good trade relations with the European Union.


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