Britain’s Conservative Party has reached a total of 326 seats in the House of Commons, ensuring it will form a majority government.
Counts by broadcasters BBC, ITV, and Sky News say the party has reached the threshold, with results from dozens of seats still to come.
Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson has called the election “historic.” He ran on a promise to take Britain out of the European Union by Jan. 31 if he won a majority.
The opposition Labour Party looks set for its worst result in decades, winning roughly 200 seats.
The Conservatives’ “Get Brexit done” message helped them win previously Labour-held seats in parts of the country that voted in 2016 to leave the EU.
U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted his congratulations to Johnson late into the night.
“Congratulations to Boris Johnson on his great WIN!” Trump said. “Britain and the United States will now be free to strike a massive new Trade Deal after BREXIT. This deal has the potential to be far bigger and more lucrative than any deal that could be made with the E.U. Celebrate Boris!”
Congratulations to Boris Johnson on his great WIN! Britain and the United States will now be free to strike a massive new Trade Deal after BREXIT. This deal has the potential to be far bigger and more lucrative than any deal that could be made with the E.U. Celebrate Boris!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2019
Former British Prime Minister Theresa May said earlier that the predicted majority win for the Conservative Party would mean the country can move on from the political paralysis around Brexit that doomed her leadership.
May told the BBC early Friday that Thursday’s election “was about ensuring we could get over this deadlock in Parliament, get Brexit done and move on.”
May also believes that once her fellow Conservative successor, Boris Johnson, has pushed his Brexit divorce deal through Parliament, he also can secure a trade deal with the European Union by the end of 2020.
She says “actually a lot of work on that has already been done.”
May won her seat in Maidenhead.
