By Paul Hannon
LONDON -- Fresh from a decisive electoral victory, U.K. Prime
Minister Boris Johnson pledged to move quickly to take Britain out
of the European Union, while promising to deliver billions of
pounds in public spending to consolidate the Conservative Party's
once-in-a-generation gains among working-class voters still hurting
from the financial crisis.
The Conservatives won 364 seats in the U.K. Parliament with just
one seat yet to be declared, the party's biggest win since former
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's 1987 re-election.
Mr. Johnson, who gambled that a snap election would give him the
parliamentary majority he needed to break a protracted deadlock on
how and when the U.K. will leave the EU, trounced the opposition
Labour Party, which won 203 seats, its smallest total since 1935.
Mr. Johnson appealed to frustrations over the Brexit stalemate, as
well as economic pain in traditionally left-leaning industrial
areas in northern England.
As a result, the Tories won 79 more seats than all other parties
combined. They took traditional Labour districts such as
Sedgefield, once the seat of former Prime Minister Tony Blair and
in the opposition party's hands since 1931.
Early Friday, Mr. Johnson reiterated his promise to take the
U.K. out of the EU by the current Jan. 31 deadline.
"We will get Brexit done, on time, by the 31st of January, no
ifs, no buts, no maybes," he said in his victory speech.
The prime minister is expected to bring his bill on the terms of
Britain's split from the EU back to Parliament before Christmas,
with full approval of the plan expected in January. Mr. Johnson,
who came to power in July after Prime Minister Theresa May resigned
in the wake of her failure to take the U.K. out of the EU, may also
reshuffle his cabinet in the coming days.
After taking breakfast at the prime minister's residence, Mr.
Johnson visited Queen Elizabeth II to ask for permission to form a
government, which she granted.
Early Friday, European Council President Charles Michel said the
EU hopes British lawmakers will quickly ratify the Brexit bill and
that the bloc stands ready for talks on a future trade deal.
If Parliament approves Mr. Johnson's Brexit bill as expected,
London and Brussels must undertake talks on a new agreement that
will dictate the U.K.'s future economic relations with a trading
bloc that represents about half of all British trade. The EU is
expected to give the bloc's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel
Barnier, a fresh mandate to begin those negotiations with
London.
The scale of Mr. Johnson's victory may give him more leverage in
those talks, but also more flexibility back home, since he will no
longer be beholden to lawmakers who want a sharp break with the
EU.
"A large majority gives Boris Johnson a much freer hand when
negotiating a post-Brexit free-trade deal," wrote Sara Hobolt, a
professor of European politics at the London School of Economics,
in an analysis Friday.
The British pound jumped about 2% to its highest level against
the dollar since May 2018 after Thursday's exit poll forecast a
Tory win, and the currency held most of its gains early Friday.
U.K. domestic stocks surged Friday, marking their strongest day
since May 2010.
Early Friday, President Trump promised to move quickly on talks
for a new U.S.-U.K. trade deal.
"Britain and the United States will now be free to strike a
massive new Trade Deal after BREXIT," Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter.
"This deal has the potential to be far bigger and more lucrative
than any deal that could be made with the EU."
In his speech Friday, Mr. Johnson sought to consolidate a
watershed realignment of Britain's electoral map, with scores of
long-held working-class seats in England and Wales switching to the
Conservatives from Labour, drawn to Mr. Johnson's pledge to deliver
the Brexit they voted for in 2016.
Brexit gave Mr. Johnson the opportunity to transform his
Conservative Party into a political machine that could appeal to
voters spanning from the landed gentry to the working class.
Delivering his victory speech from a podium that bore the
slogan, "The People's Government," Mr. Johnson promised to deliver
on a campaign pledge to spend GBP100 billion ($131 billion) in new
infrastructure and billions more on health care, schools and
policing. He singled out fresh investment in the country's National
Health Service, a cherished institution that voters have
traditionally felt is safer in Labour's hands.
Mr. Johnson's promise of budget largess appealed in particular
to working-class areas that lost heavy industry and suffered from
decaying infrastructure and worsening public services.
"You may only have lent us your vote," he said. "Your hand may
have quivered over the ballot paper before you put your cross in
the Conservative box. I am humbled that you have put your trust in
me, and that you have put your trust in us. And I and we will never
take your support for granted."
The party has also promised more spending on infrastructure such
as railways in northern and central England, where many of its
newly won districts are located.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said he wouldn't contest another
election as leader of the party after voters soundly rejected his
vision of heavy state intervention in the British economy,
including the nationalization of water supply and railways.
Mr. Corbyn promised a period of "reflection" following the
defeat. In an interview Friday, he said voters hadn't responded to
his policies because they had been too focused on leaving the
EU.
"The issue that dominated this election was Brexit," he told Sky
News. "Our policies were all, individually, very popular."
Mr. Johnson also promised to revamp the U.K.'s immigration
system -- an issue that helped drive the 2016 referendum toward a
win for euroskeptics -- by instituting a points-based system
similar to that used in Australia, a country with strict policies
on whom it admits.
While the Conservative Party extended its reach in England and
Wales, the pro-independence Scottish National Party tightened its
grip on one of the four countries that make up the U.K. SNP leader
Nicola Sturgeon said her party's 13-seat gain indicates that Scots
want another referendum on whether to leave the U.K., a call Mr.
Johnson is likely to reject.
In Northern Ireland, the Conservative Party's former allies in
the Democratic Unionist Party suffered losses. For the first time,
the country elected more lawmakers who favor unification with
Ireland than those who support continued membership of the U.K.
Write to Paul Hannon at paul.hannon@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 13, 2019 08:53 ET (13:53 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.