The shock hung Parliament has thrown into doubt many apparent uncertainties in British politics, including the future direction of the country’s approach to Brexit. After all, it was around seeking validation for her Brexit approach that Prime Minister Theresa May pegged the need for the election. Even after the exit polls predicted a hung Parliament late on Thursday, the Minister in charge of Brexit, David Davis, suggested the party’s proposal to leave the single market and the customs union, while building relations with the rest of the world, was put before the people.
However, the Conservatives lost 12 seats, and fell short of the overall majority they needed, though Ms. May has signalled she is determined to continue with negotiations as planned later this month. “Brexit negotiations should start when UK is ready; timetable and EU positions are clear. Let’s put our minds together on striking a deal,” tweeted the European Commission’s chief negotiator on Brexit, Michel Barnier.
“Yet another own goal, after Cameron now May will make already complex negotiations even more complicated,” tweeted Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s representative on Brexit negotiations.
Britain’s approach
When it comes to Britain’s approach, much will depend on the takeaways of the election by the Conservatives and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), on which it drew on support to form the government. The DUP was the only party in Northern Ireland to support Brexit, though its manifesto suggests it is against a “hard Brexit”.
“It does… offer an opportunity to rethink the hard Brexit that Ms. May intended,” wrote George Osborne, the former chancellor and current editor of the Evening Standard , in the paper’s editorial on Friday.
The election proved disastrous for the U.K. Independence Party, which failed to win a single seat. The party’s leader Paul Nuttall has stepped down.
“People have spoken loud and clear and they’ve said we do not want an extreme Brexit,” Gina Miller, the campaigner who took the government to the Supreme Court over giving Parliament a voice on Brexit told the BBC.
