Well that was a bit of a shock. Having called a snap election in order to increase her majority and having been predicted a landslide at the outset, here we are, no majority to speak of and chaos behind the scenes.
So now although she leads the largest single party, there’s no overall majority and she’s forced to go cap in hand to the Irish DUP a party that believes in banning abortion and homosexuality amongst other retrograde views, as well as being affiliated with known terror organisations in the Troubles.
I have never know a losing party, the socialist labour Party, seem so happy and triumphant, and it’s important to keep hold of the idea that they lost. They performed better than expected but still lost. In Scotland, the gains made were by the Tories thanks to a strong performance by the local leader. In Wales, Labour held onto tricky seats largely thanks to an absent Jeremy Corbyn.
In England, the Labour vote was damaged in areas of strong brexit voting but not by enough. They were seen to benefit in areas voting remain. Corbyn has successfully motivated the young vote which turned out at record 72%, voting primarily Labour.
The result is heralded as a return to two party politics, a return to spend and tax policies within the Labour Party versus low taxes and crappy welfare from the Tories.
There will be plenty of time for more detailed analysis but one thing seems clear, and is enough to dismay traditional Labour voters as well as Tories: Jeremy Corbyn is here to stay.