UK: Tory parliamentary majority reduced to one

LONDON

The Conservative party’s working majority in the House of Commons has been reduced to one MP after the Liberal Democrats party won an important by-election on Friday.

Jane Dodds, the pro-EU party’s candidate for the Welsh town of Brecon and Radnorshire, associated her victory with the electoral pact the Liberal Democrats formed with various other parties, in which the Greens and the Plaid Cymru stood aside to allow voters to vote for the Liberal

Democrats, thus giving them a clear majority.

“People are desperately crying out for a different kind of politics. There is no time for tribalism when our country is faced with a Boris Johnson government and the threat of a no-deal Brexit,” Dodds said in her victory statement.

“My very first act as your MP when I arrive in Westminster will be to find Mr. Boris Johnson, wherever he’s hiding, and tell him loud and clear: stop playing with the futures of our communities and rule out a no-deal Brexit” she added.

The Liberal Democrats gained 13,826 votes with the Tories getting 12,401 votes, giving the Lib Dems a winning majority of 1,425. The opposition Labour party, however, were humiliatingly pushed into fourth place, attracting only 1,680 votes while the Brexit party came third with 3,331 votes.

Jo Swinson, the head of the Liberal Democrats, said on the BBC’s Today program that “the country doesn’t have to settle for Boris Johnson or Jeremy Corbyn, There is another positive alternative that is the Liberal Democrats who are winning again and on the up”.

The Lib Dems victory has reduced the Conservative party’s parliamentary majority to just one MP and will be used by anti-Brexit campaigners as evidence that the electorate is not in favor of the prime minister’s plans for a no-deal Brexit.

The victory also highlights the effectiveness of pro-EU party alliances and pacts and the power it has to win important polls. Lib Dems have often criticized the Labour leadership for not supporting their 'remain' cause openly.

A reduced parliamentary majority will make it increasingly difficult for Boris Johnson to pass legislation and importantly a new Brexit deal if one renegotiated and agreed by the EU. These issues will effectively give power to parliament in dictating what policies from the government are deemed

acceptable but more importantly it will allow parliament to dictate the terms on the U.K. leaves the EU.

The Conservative Party lost their overall majority after June 2017 snap elections under Theresa May and had to form a minority government with the support of 10 MPs from Northern Ireland's biggest party the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in a supply and demand deal.

Following their success in the local elections, the Lib Dems put on a strong performance at the EU parliament elections, campaigning on an anti-Brexit platform and coming second with a 15 percent share of the vote and gaining 16 MEPs.

The party has positioned itself as the main anti-Brexit and pro-EU party in the U.K. and has in recent months gained the support from pro-EU supporters who traditionally voted for the Conservative and Labour parties.