The UK General Election – Johnson Wins with an Emphatic Majority

It was a big night for UK politics and Boris Johnson’s Brexiteers. Seasoned politicians headed for the exit door, as Boris Johnson and the Tories prepare to walk Britain out of the EU.

The opinion polls, the Electoral Calculus, and the bookies had given the Tories a victory and a majority. None had predicted such a margin of victory, however, going into Election Day.

Looking at the vote spread, major swing votes in the North delivered the Tories the majority that has materially altered Britain’s political landscape.

Significantly, the Labour Wall across the North was dismantled with ease.

Major Wins and Losses

For the Tories, Boris Johnson retained Uxbridge, while Jo Swinson lost Dunbartonshire East to the SNPs.

Interestingly, the rise in SNP support across Scotland will build pressure on the Tories to allow a 2^nd Scottish Independence Referendum. The Tories will stand by the SNP’s statement in 2014, however, where the SNP clearly stated that the referendum was a once in a lifetime vote.

Significantly, the SNP held back from including independence within the election mandate this time around…

For the Labour Party, while Corbyn held onto Islington North, there were a number of noteworthy losses.

Bishop Auckland and Don Valley were particularly painful losses for the Opposition Party that will have contributed the end to Corbyn’s tenure at the head of the Labour Party.

Don Valley had been in the hands of Labour since 1922, with Bishop Auckland in Labour Party control since 1935…

Stoke-on-Trent was also a significant loss, having been held by Labour since the creation of the constituency back in 1950…

For Corbyn, the 203 seats won was the lowest number of seats won since 1935…

The first and key exit poll had given the Tories 368 seats to give the Tories an 86 majority. As the results trickled through, the projection for the Tory Party majority had come down to 39 seats before bouncing back.

In the end, the projections give the Tories a whopping 364 seats and a majority of 78. That’s the largest since Thatcher’s famous 1987 victory…

Projections give Labour 203 seats, with the Lib Dems a dismal 11 seats.

With 8 results yet to come in, the Tories had won 358 seats, with Labour winning 203 and the SNP 48 seats.

The Pound

After hitting 8-month highs, earlier in the week, the Pound had fallen back to $1.30 levels. We had anticipated some jitters ahead of the first exit poll of the night.

The Pound surged to $1.35 levels upon release of the 1^st exit polls before easing back to $1.34 levels.

It’s still an impressive move, with the Pound up by 2.37% to $1.3475 at the time of writing.

While Boris Johnson will deliver Brexit, the SNP will look to deliver a 2^nd independence referendum. The Tories lost votes in Scotland, supporting the SNP’s argument for independence.

Whether the British PM will succumb to any pressure from north of the border, however.

Johnson has been strongly against a 2^nd referendum. The dust will need to now settle. For the British PM, it will be a busy 2020. Not only are there trade agreements to negotiate, but also a new relationship with the EU to forge.

This article was originally posted on FX Empire

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