8th May 2015 11:52
London (Alliance News) - Britain's Conservative Party won an outright majority in parliament following Thursday's general election, near-complete results showed.
Prime Minister David Cameron hailed the "sweetest victory" of his political career on Friday, with the win giving him a clear mandate for another five years in office.
The Conservatives' outright majority in the 650-seat parliament surprised most political analysts.
Cameron went to meet Queen Elizabeth on Friday afternoon to inform her that he planned to form a new government.
The Conservatives' main rivals, Labour, lost about two dozen of the seats they held in 2010. Their leader Ed Miliband resigned the party leadership. He said he had called Cameron to congratulate him. Of his own position, he said it was "time for someone else."
"The responsibility for the result is mine alone," he said.
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg also resigned his party's leadership, after accepting responsibility for the "catastrophic" loss of seats in the election.
The Liberal Democrats, the Conservatives' coalition partners for the last five years, lost 48 of the 57 seats they held in 2010, with several seats still to be counted.
"It is now painfully clear that this has been a cruel and punishing night for the Liberal Democrats," says Clegg, who served as deputy prime minister in the coalition.
He is one of only eight members of his party to have won a seat in Thursday's election.
Speaking after the declaration of about 610 of the 650 seats up for grabs, BBC pollster John Curtice, a political scientist at Strathclyde University, said the Conservatives were likely to hold 329 seats after the final count.
The London stock exchange was up 1.6% during early morning trading while sterling was gaining on the dollar and the euro.
The loss of Labour shadow chancellor Ed Balls' seat was the "clearest signal" that the Conservatives are on course for an overall majority in parliament, Curtice said. Such an outcome would remove the need for them to negotiate with other parties.
"Clearly we have a mandate to get on with the work that we started five years ago," Chancellor George Osborne said.
"This is clearly a very strong night for the Conservative Party," Cameron said.
"We've had a positive response to a positive campaign," he said in a victory speech as he held his Witney constituency.
Most pre-election polls had forecast no more than 285 seats for the party, which ruled Britain in a coalition with the Liberal Democrats during the past five years.
There was a rise in support for the right-wing UK Independence Party, although it won only one seat and party leader Nigel Farage failed to get one. He later resigned the party leadership.
In his resignation speech, Farage blamed his defeat on prospective UKIP voters choosing the Conservatives because they "were so scared" of a possible coalition government between Labour and the Scottish National Party, which right-wing tabloid newspapers had presented as a "nightmare" scenario.
Farage lost out to Conservative candidate Craig Craig Mackinlay, a former UKIP deputy leader, in the South Thanet constituency.
The Scottish National Party won 56 of the 59 seats in Scotland, wiping out all but one of Labour's seats in what party leader Nicola Sturgeon hailed as a "historic watershed."
The election shapes Britain's economic future and could have major implications for the country's welfare services, its relationship with the EU - and even the future integrity of the country.
Cameron said the country "must hold" a promised referendum on EU membership and allow greater devolution for Scotland and Wales "as fast as we can."
Turnout in the election was about 66%, a similar level to the last election in 2010.
In Brussels, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker congratulated Cameron on his victory.
The commission "stands ready to work constructively with the new British government," said spokesman Margaritis Schinas, adding that it will examine any requests for a change in Britain's relations with the EU in a "polite, friendly and objective way."
Cameron had promised, in the case of an election victory, to renegotiate his country's relationship with the 28-member bloc before holding a referendum on continued EU membership.
However, it is up to the bloc's governments to decide on any EU treaty changes, Schinas said, warning that freedom of movement - an issue challenged by many eurosceptics in Britain - is a "non-negotiable" right which is essential to the bloc.
Copyright dpa