Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party wins UK election with commanding majority, Sky News reports

FAN Editor

Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaves after a news conference at the European Union leaders summit dominated by Brexit, in Brussels, Belgium October 17, 2019.

Piroschka van de Wouw | Reuters

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party has secured a majority in the House of Commons after winning 353 seats out of 650, Sky News reported. The counting is still underway with 17 more seats be announced. 

An earlier exit poll had projected that the Conservatives would win 368 seats in Parliament, a gain of 50 seats from the 2017 election. The U.K. pound quickly jumped more than 2% on the news.

After winning his seat in Uxbridge, Johnson said: “At this stage it does look as though this one-nation Conservative government has been given a powerful new mandate, to get Brexit done and not just to get Brexit done but to unite this country and to take it forward.”

Earlier, Jeremy Corbyn announced he will not be leading the U.K.’s opposition Labour party in future elections, following what he called a “disappointing night.”

Speaking on ITV on Friday, Corbyn said Labour will go through a reflection process and that he will lead the party during this period. However, he confirmed that he will not be leading the opposition party in any future election.

“This is obviously a very disappointing night for the Labour Party with the result that we’ve got,” Corbyn said.

The result of the election is expected to have a decisive effect on the direction that Brexit takes, three-and-a-half years since the U.K.’s referendum on EU membership.

Liberal Democratic leader Jo Swinson lost her seat to the Scottish National Party. She had campaigned to overturn the 2016 Brexit vote.

Johnson’s Brexit divorce deal has been agreed to in principle by the U.K. Parliament but is yet to be fully ratified by lawmakers. There have been deep divisions over the deal on offer and how close the U.K. should stay aligned to the EU after its departure from the bloc. The future of the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland has also been a major sticking point.

The impasse and political chaos in the House of Commons ultimately led to Thursday’s snap general election as Johnson lost the slim majority he held in the U.K.’s lower chamber of Parliament. The vote is the first to be held in the winter months since 1974 and the first December election since 1923.

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said Johnson has no mandate to take Scotland out of the European Union and demanded that they must be allowed to hold a fresh independence vote on its place in the United Kingdom.

This is a breaking news story, please check back later for more.

—CNBC’s Christine Wang and Holly Ellyatt contributed to this article.

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