Cameron win redraws political map

LONDON: Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservatives won a surprise and decisive victory in Britain’s general election on Friday, which redrew the political map and could redefine the country’s future in Europe.
With huge election victory, David Cameron now heads into another fundamental campaign for Britain with renewed vigor: Should his island nation remain in the European Union if there is no reform within the next two years.
Cameron said he will form a majority Conservative government. He signaled a conciliatory tone congratulating former coalition partner, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, and opposition leader Ed Miliband. He promised to govern as the party of “One nation, One United Kingdom.”
Ed Miliband, the leader of Britain’s Labour Party, said he will step down after a worse-than-expected result in the election.
Nick Clegg has resigned as leader of Britain’s Liberal Democrats after a disastrous result for his party in the election.
Clegg said he must take responsibility for the party’s losses, which he described as much more crushing that he expected.
Nigel Farage also quit as leader of the populist UK Independence Party after failed to win a seat in the UK parliamentary election.
Farage, who had earlier promised to resign if he lost, told activists “I’m a man of my word.” But he raised the prospect he would consider running again in the future.
Even if groundbreaking changes to the way the EU works are unlikely to be achieved within the two-year time-frame for a British referendum, many believe there is a groundswell for just enough changes to keep Britain in.
Syad Kamall, leader of the Conservative group in the EU parliament, said Friday that Cameron “clearly has a mandate to pursue” drastic EU reform,
EPP Christian Democrat leader Manfred Weber says that “Europeans must also start thinking about whether it is time” for EU reform to accommodate Britain.
In Witney, Cameron promised to keep his pledge to hold a referendum on membership of the European Union by 2017, raising the prospect that it could leave the bloc.
The result is an endorsement of the Conservatives’ austerity program and is likely to see a continuation of cuts to public spending as they seeks to reduce a budget deficit of nearly £90 billion (120 billion euros, $140 billion).
Ed Miliband admitted it had been “a very disappointing and difficult night” for his center-left party, in which it lost about two dozen seats, including one held by finance spokesman Ed Balls.
Labour was almost wiped out in Scotland, dropping from 41 seats five years ago to just one this time around, as the Scottish Nationalist Party won 56 out of 59 possible seats.
Among the new SNP lawmakers was 20-year-old Mhairi Black, who felled Labour’s campaign chief to become Britain’s youngest MP since 1667. The success of the SNP could increase pressure for a fresh referendum on Scottish independence, even though that was rejected just last September by 55 percent of voters.
“It is an extraordinary statement of intent from the people of Scotland,” former SNP leader Alex Salmond said, as he was elected to the northeastern seat of Gordon.
“The Scottish lion has roared this morning across the country.”
It was also a terrible night for the centrist Liberal Democrats, who by mid-morning had lost all but eight of the 57 seats they won five years ago.
The EU said Friday it was ready to work with Britain’s re-elected Prime Minister David Cameron on his reform demands but said key principles including the freedom of movement were not up for negotiation.
“I confirm that the four freedoms in the treaty are non-negotiable. They are non-negotiable because they are the essence of the EU,” Margaritis Schinas, a spokesman for European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, told a daily briefing.
The election of a Conservative government raises questions over Britain’s future in the European Union, as Cameron has promised to hold a referendum by 2017.