Bitesized Blighty: December 13, 2019
- The UK’s election result flowed in today, demonstrating a significant swing to the Conservative Party and Boris Johnson, who promised Brexit, Brexit & Brexit. Optimists in the financial sector hope that with his majority of ~78 seats, he can show his true colours as a liberal, pro-business, free-market internationalist who will mitigate the worst economic impacts of Brexit. On the flip side, fear of a reckless, ‘at any costs’ Brexit strategy continue. With his strong result, Boris has a clear mandate to drive legislation through Parliament, and fulfill his pledge of delivering Brexit by the end of January.
- Boris Johnson has said he wants to ‘let the healing begin’, and repay the trust that former Labour voters who voted for his Conservative Party placed in him. A number of strong Labour seats across the north of England and Wales voted Conservative, some for the first time. The BBC's political editor Laura Kuenssberg said the PM's appeal for unity marked a striking change in tone to when he first became prime minister in July.
- Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn says he did "everything he could" to get Labour into power and will not "walk away" until another leader is elected. Many in Labour are blaming Corbyn for their electoral wipe-out, citing a non-committal stance on Brexit, continued concern over the Party’s handling of anti-Semitism and hard-left policies. A new leader will likely be elected in the early part of next year, which will be a battle for the soul of the party and we’re sure to see wrangling between its hard-left faction and moderate candidates.
