The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Theresa May

  • Brexit: UK offer, a good start – Merkel

    Brexit: UK offer, a good start – Merkel

    German Chancellor Angela Merkel has described United Kingdom plans to ensure the rights of European Union citizens in Britain after Brexit as “a good start.”

    However, she said there were “many, many other questions” about Brexit and there was “still a lot to do.”

    The UK proposal was unveiled by Prime Minister Theresa May at an EU summit in Brussels on Thursday.

    The BBC reports that it would grant EU migrants who had lived in the UK for five years at the cut-off date new “UK settled status.”

    The cut-off date has yet to be announced, but will be sometime between March 2017 and the moment the UK actually leaves the EU.

    Those who qualify for settled status will be allowed to stay in the country and access health, education and other benefits.

    The plan is expected to affect 3.2 million EU citizens now living in the UK, around a million of whom have lived in the country less than five years.

    Their rights – and the rights of UK citizens living in the rest of the EU – are among the thorny issues that have to be resolved early on in Brexit talks, along with the UK’s divorce bill and the Northern Ireland border.

    The European Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker, described the offer as a “first step,” but added it was “not sufficient.”

    Mrs. Merkel was more positive, calling it a “good start.”

    “Theresa May made clear today that EU citizens who have been in Great Britain for five years can keep their full rights. That’s a good start,” she said at the end of Thursday’s talks.

  • Several other tower blocks have combustible cladding-British PM

    Several other tower blocks have combustible cladding-British PM

    British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Thursday that initial tests on other high-rise buildings after the London fire tragedy have shown that the cladding was combustible.

    May, made this known while citing the results of tests conducted after a fire killed at least 79 people in London.

    Flames spread rapidly up the 24-storey residential tower block on June 17, trapping people inside, in what was Britain’s worst blaze since World War Two.

    Exterior cladding added during a refurbishment may have played a part, residents have said.

    The disaster heaped pressure on Prime Minister May, already fighting for her political survival after a snap election saw her party lose its parliamentary majority.

    It has acted as a focal point for anger at government cuts to local authority funding and drawn accusations of criminal negligence.

    “We should, of course, be careful on speculating what caused this fire, but as a precaution, the government has arranged to test cladding on all relevant tower blocks,” May told parliament.

    “Shortly before I came to the chamber, I was informed that a number of these tests have come back as combustible.”

    She said local authorities and fire services had been informed and were taking steps to make affected buildings safe and to inform residents.

    May has launched a public inquiry into the fire and police have announced a criminal investigation.

    May said tests on the cladding of Grenfell Tower where the fire blazed would be made public in the next 48 hours.

    “This has been a wake-up call for the whole country,” said Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition Labour Party.

    “Residents of tower blocks all over the country are concerned, worried and frightened for their own safety. What we need is a step change in our attitude toward housing in this country.”

    After apologising for a slow state response to the fire, May said it was right that the head of the local council had resigned.

    Nicholas Holgate, chief executive of Kensington and Chelsea council, said he was forced out by the government.

  • Millennial’s voting preferences, lessons for future elections

    A Post-UK election analysis by the Financial Times suggests that better-educated people tend to vote for left-wing or centrist causes, while those who never went to university are more likely to vote for right-wing or populist parties. It concludes that Tories made heavy forays into working class territories previously considered the exclusive domain of the Labour Party, even though, overall, the Conservatives’ showing at last week’s poll was poorer.

    An analysis of the trends in the recent elections in France reveals similar results. Emmanuel Macron, for instance, won his highest votes in Paris, home to France’ most literate population. He garnered 34.8% in the first round and scooped a whopping 89.7% of the Parisian vote in the second round.

    Polling from Lord Ashcroft’s also suggests that the Conservatives beat Labour to the middle-class votes by just three percent in the 2017 election. For context, in the 1974 elections, the Tories took 56% of the middle-class vote while Labour managed 19%. As a consequence, Labour seems to have narrowed the difference in a manner that convinces some analysts that if an election was called today, the Labour Party led by Jeremy Corbyn will lead the Brexit negotiations in the coming days.

    The Brits were faced with two choices – a ‘Strong and Stable’ incumbent and a wobbly Labour leader, whose affinity towards the IRA was played up in the weeks before Polling Day. In what some analysts described as an ‘unnecessary election,’ British Prime Minister Theresa May insisted she needed her proverbial hand strengthened by a strong majority to face her counterpart leaders in Brussels for the Brexit negotiations.

    It turned out that the slim majority that made her the Prime Minister, following the referendum that blew her predecessor David Cameron apart, will be eroded. The foregoing has exposed Mrs May to varied attacks both home and abroad.

    The day after the elections, following her declaration to form a government with the ‘support’ of the Democratic Unionist Party, a Northern Ireland caucus, political commentator Robin Oakley called her damaged goods with diminished authority. He believed that the Prime Minister had lost the confidence of Britons to lead the country out of the EU.

    Mrs May, however, said the U.K. now more than ever needed certainty that she was now poised to offer. One imagines this certainty has to do greatly with the impending Brexit negotiations with the EU leadership. This was despite many EU leaders taunting her after the results of the poll became public. The already wounded Prime Minister had become a laughing stock. Though her party lost seats in the elections, the Conservatives won the majority of seats as well as the highest number of votes.

    The percentage of votes accrued to the Tories under Theresa May in this ‘post-Brexit’ election, was more than what sent both Tony Blair (40.7% & 35.2% in 2001 & 2005 respectively) and David Cameron’s (36.1% & 36.9% in 2010 & 2015) to Downing Street. But can you blame anyone for chastising Theresa May, who made the election a personal contest with Jeremy Corbyn? He was a punching bag but the ‘Strong and Stable’ leader shied away from all debates.

    A Town Hall engagement that followed with an interview with Jeremy Paxman had to feature the two leaders on separate platforms. This arrangement and the subsequent decision not to take part in a debate with other candidates in the election spelt her doom. Many could no longer defend her ‘Strong and Stable’ mantra. Her U-turn over proposals in her Party’s manifesto was also perceived as an utter disregard for the voting populace and a resolve not to subject her party’s policies to scrutiny.

    The London Bridge and Borough Market terror attack days before the election probably drove the last nail into her coffin. It brought to the fore how decisions of her Party, with her as Home Secretary earlier and now Premier have contributed to reduced spending on the police and its concomitant decrease in police numbers on London’s streets.

    In all of this, Millennials were probably keen observers. They were only interested in policies that furthered their interests and aspirations. Many believe the outturn of the elections was also to ensure that Britain’s leaders ‘talked’ to each other in this bid to sever ties with the European Union. I differ on that one.

    It is nearly impossible for voters in an election to agree in their political choices to bring leaders from diametrically opposed sides to do business. The hung Parliament, the outcome of last week’s election, is better explained by voters aged 18-24 years, whose shift to Jeremy Corbyn’s campaign shored up his votes 51 points more than the national average.

    Many analysts believe that if the youth feel rewarded by their massive turnout and voting for their preferred candidate, their engagement could be sustained, further shifting the voting patterns in the UK towards Labour.

    Given the expected renewed commitment of Millennials in voting on their everyday realities, politicians seeking to attract them can’t be fixated on their ideals and history. Corbyn asked voters to judge him on his politics today as well as the policies his party offered and we saw the verdict. Can we conclude that the verdict for the Conservative Party under the watch of Theresa May was a verdict of her politics and policies both as Home Secretary and Prime Minister?

    The dynamics of the Brexit votes and Trump’s emergence in the White House and last week’s UK election must tell politicians that the largest pool of voters don’t just care about who leads parties but they also care about how the leader remains committed to following through his or her policies, the strength of his or her engagement and how those policies touch their daily realities.

    I rest my case.

    Kobby Mensah is a Freelance Journalist with interest in politics and business reporting.

He last worked as head of politics and lead producer for EIB Network's Starr FM and

GHOne TV, where he led teams to implement Town Hall events in the run up to Ghana's

2016 elections. He also benefited from US 2016 election reporting under the State

Department and Foreign Press Office's Youth in Politics Initiative.
  • British PM May faces mounting criticism over London tower block blaze

    British PM May faces mounting criticism over London tower block blaze

    British Prime Minister Theresa May faced mounting criticism on Friday for not meeting the survivors of a deadly London tower block blaze.

    May promised to hold a public inquiry into a fire that killed 17 people when it engulfed a 24-storey social housing block in West London, expressing her sorrow in a televised statement after meeting with the emergency services.

    Unlike opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn and London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who was confronted by a young boy asking “How many children died?”, May did not meet with residents, prompting criticism from locals, media and within her Conservative party.

    “She wanted an entirely controlled situation in which she didn’t use her humanity,” former cabinet minister Michael Portillo told the BBC.

    “She should have been there with the residents. You have to be prepared to receive people’s emotions, and not be so frightened about people,” he said.

    When asked on Thursday about why she did not meet residents or visit a local community center, May said she wanted to visit the scene of the incident to be briefed by the emergency services.

    The Sun newspaper said 65 people are now feared dead or missing in the fire.

    London police expect the death toll to rise further but said it could take months to search the burned-out building and identify the victims.

    On Friday, British newspapers heightened their criticism of the government, saying there were a series of unanswered issues including as to whether the cladding used on the building helped the blaze spread.

    “Three lethal questions,” headlined the right-wing Daily Mail newspaper, which backed May’s Conservatives in last week’s national election, saying ministers faced disturbing questions over the disaster.

    Local government minister Sajid Javid, responsible for housing policy, defended May for not meeting with those affected by the disaster:

    “What she wanted to do was to speak to the people working on the ground on the recovery operation, the rescue operation to make sure that they’ve got everything they want and see how she could help,” he told Sky news.

    After May failed to win an outright majority in a snap election on June 8, she is battling to strike a deal with Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party to support her government.

  • London firefighters traumatised by ‘horrendous’ scenes, chief says

    Most of the 250 firefighters who tackled the blaze at London’s Grenfell Tower, where at least 12 people died and many remain missing, were traumatized by the “horrendous” scenes they found, London Fire Chief said.

    London Fire Brigade Commissioner, Dany Cotton told Sky News that her officers had seen people jumping and throwing children from windows at the 120-home social housing block.

    “I spoke to one of my officers, who were very near when someone came out of the window, and he was in tears, and he is a professional fire officer.

    “We like to think of ourselves as roughty, toughty and heroes – they are heroes, but they have feelings, and people were absolutely devastated by yesterday’s events.

    “It was the worst thing I have ever seen, it was a horrendous, major incident of a large scale that involved so many people, and it was beyond belief.

    “Words cannot describe it, it was just that truly awful,” Cotton said.

    Queen Elizabeth II, Prime Minister Theresa May and other politicians have paid tribute to the firefighters.

    The Fire Brigades Union, which represents most of Britain’s firefighters, earlier said the firefighters and other emergency personnel were “doing a particularly difficult job.”

    The union said “the firefighters are witnessing brutal and tragic scenes with the professionalism we have come to expect from them.”

     

  • The world on Theresa May: She’s no ‘Iron Lady’

    The world on Theresa May: She’s no ‘Iron Lady’

    Harvey Day, Allan Hall, Peter Allen, and Gerard Couzens of Mailonline capture global media reaction to the electoral misadventure of British Prime Minister Theresa May

    EUROPEAN press – led by the Germans – have been quick to mock Theresa May as the world reacts to the Conservative election disaster.

    Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn called on the Prime Minister to resign after she lost 12 seats across the country.

    Newspapers across Europe have also discussed how the Tory defeat could impact Brexit negotiations which are due to begin on June 19.

    Spiegel magazine, using German wordplay to compare her to Margaret Thatcher, called her instead ‘Die eiernde Lady’ – the wobbly lady.

    It went on: ‘Britain’s Prime minister Theresa May has been playing poker – and has lost almost everything. After a memorable night, the country is politically paralyzed. And it’s completely unclear where it goes from here.

    ‘It is not stable any more – at least not for her job. So the tasks now are enormous: the government must organise the divorce process with the EU, for which there is no historical role model; It must tame the centrifugal forces in its own country and, in particular, look to Scotland and Northern Ireland to ensure that the United Kingdom remains a United Kingdom.

    ‘It must comply with almost unsustainable promises it has given itself, and take care not to torpedo the domestic economy.

    ‘It is a situation in which the country can actually use a strong and stable leader. Theresa May looked like this for a while. Two weeks ago, she was compared in the British media with the ‘Iron Lady’ Margaret Thatcher.

    The Netherlands’ nrc.next (left) said: ‘May’s big gamble is wrong’ while Greece’s Ta Nea (right) includes a graphic with the United Kingdom inside one of Theresa May’s famous leopard print shoes

    ‘She’s only been a wobbly lady since Friday morning.’

    There was a mocking tone to French coverage of the UK general election today as commentators said Britain was now weakened as it prepared for Brexit.

    Le Figaro newspaper wrote: ‘Theresa May, who had called this poll with the sole purpose of strengthening her existing majority, was caught in her own trap.’

    Italy’s Corriere della Sera, in its online headline, says: ‘Theresa’s gamble failed, she is no Margaret Thatcher.’

    Another Italian paper La Repubblica says in its online headline: ‘May’s gamble fails, loses her majority.’

    Germany’s Die Welt website simply says: ‘Conservatives lose majority – May speaks at 11 am.’

    Denmark’s leading broadsheet Politiken said: ‘What now, UK? May went from Brexit Queen to disaster in seven weeks.’

    Norway’s Klassekampen said: ‘Labor and Jeremy Corbyn have almost captured the lead to Theresa May before today’s election: They underestimated us.’

    Germany’s best selling Bild newspaper said: ‘Will May resign today? Is there an exit before Brexit?’

    ‘Election quake in the UK! Theresa May has gambled  and her Tories lose an absolute majority, instead of being strengthened, from the election.

    ‘When the BBC’s first extrapolations were shown last night at a party in London’s Trafalgar Square, some guests stormed out of the room in fright. They too were sure that Theresa May would get a large majority in Parliament. In London it is known as MAY-DAY!

    ‘However, the hope of a withdrawal from the exit  that is, a departure from the Brexit  remains low. Rupert Harrison, former chief adviser of former Treasury secretary George Osborne and now fund manager at BlackRock, said to Bild: ‘A Conservative government will carry out the Brexit. There’s no going back. ‘

    ‘Nevertheless, with this election result, it is not easy for May to lead the negotiations with the EU out of a position of strength.’

    It added: ‘An election debacle before the start of Brexit negotiations. Theresa May is facing an exit from her own party.

    ‘With the election she wanted to expand the parliamentary majority of her Conservative Party and win more tailwind for the Brexit negotiations with the EU.

    ‘But now she will probably lose her office. After the fantastic poll values of four weeks ago, this is a bitter slap for May!’

    Die Welt declared: ‘Theresa May pays for her risky game.’ It condemned her campaign as a ‘disaster’ and also questioned how long she could remain in office.

    ‘Election disaster for May – what now for Brexit?’ asked the Merkur.de news website.

    It went on: ‘MEPs are uneasy about the Brexit negotiations because of the weakness of the British Prime Minister Theresa May.

    ‘The time for a sensible negotiation of the British EU exit is very scarce, given the unclear leadership situation,’ said the Green Europe chief Reinhard Bütikofer.

    ‘The CDU MEP and Brexit expert Elmar Brok described Mays’s authority as severely damaged. ‘It is now very exciting for the negotiations,’ he said.

    ‘Hard Brexit? Soft Brexit? The message of the British electorate is not easy to decipher, given the unclear majority situation. It is clear that may does not have her own majority for her very tough negotiating line without any major concessions to the EU.

    ‘Will May be able to get a government that can vigorously defend its positions at the negotiating table at all? Will it be dependent on partners who bring more willingness to compromise? Are there even fresh elections planned and therefore a further month-long suspension?

    ‘Brussels is looking to the United Kingdom with unease.’

    The Berliner Zeitung said: ‘Setback instead of tailwind: British Prime Minister Theresa May is standing in front of a pile of debris after the reelection that had been put forward on her initiative.

    ‘In Parliament the Conservatives lose their majority  the clear mandate they want for the Brexit negotiations with the European Union does not exist. No one knows whether, in these difficult circumstances, by March 2019, an orderly and all-enduring EU exit of the United Kingdom will indeed be successful.’

    ‘Brexit timetable spoiled,’ said business bible Manager Magazin. ‘Germany industry concerned.’

    It added: ‘The German economy is very concerned about the electoral outcome in the United Kingdom. With the parliamentary election, the uncertainty in the German economy is rising, leading the chief executive of the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK) Martin Wansleben, to lament: ‘The roadmap for the Brexit negotiations is now wasted.’

    ‘Foreign Trade President Anton Börner is also expecting new uncertainties around the Brexit. ‘This is not a cause for Schadenfreude because this is bad news for Brussels.’

    ‘May loses absolute majority in parliament,’ said the broadsheet Sueddeutsche Zeitung. ‘What this political insecurity means in the short term for the exit negotiations with EU remains unclear.

    The Netherlands’ nrc.next said: ‘May’s big gamble is wrong’ while Greece’s Ta Nea includes a graphic with the United Kingdom inside one of Theresa May’s famous leopard print shoes.

    The Wall Street Journal said: ‘U.K. Polls Point to No Majority; Outcom would represent a major setback for Prime Minister May’.

    Italy’s Corriere della Sera said: ‘Exit poll: May retreats, she has no majority’ while Fintan O’Toole, a columnist for The Irish Times, said: ‘Queen Theresa ousted in ignominy; In all of this panic there has been a deep undermining of the idea of political authority’.

    Ouest France, another of the biggest papers in France, pointed to: ‘An election for nothing’, saying that a ‘profoundly disorientated Britain’ had voted.

    Le Monde, the most famous paper in the country, meanwhile suggested that Britain was facing up to the prospect of ‘terribly fragile’ minority government that will be a ‘blow to the Brexit schedule’.

    Le Monde quoted academics from the London School of Economics (LSE), including Professor Iain Begg who said: ‘It’s a disaster for Theresa May. Her leadership is being questioned and she will be under pressure to resign if the results are confirmed.’

    Tony Travers, also of the LSE, told Le Monde: ‘It seems that there will be instability and it will be more difficult for the British government to negotiate Brexit from a firm position.’

    Jean-Baptise Duval, economic editor of the French Huffington Post, said: ‘The result is the exact opposite of the one Theresa May wanted. She, who was counting on a large victory to reinforce her hard Brexit line, will start negotiations weakened against the EU.’

    And Le Croix newspaper said: ‘The opposition Labour leader, the very Left-wing Jeremy Corbyn, was the big winner in the parliamentary elections on Thursday, increasing the score of his party when he was considered beaten and mocked within his own party.’

    AFP, France’s national news agency, set the tone for coverage, writing: ‘The Conservative prime minister Theresa May was in a hurry to resign on Friday, after her Conservative Party lost its absolute majority in the British parliament.’

    The report suggested that it was ‘a result that plunged [Britain] into uncertainty before the opening of Brexit negotiations.’

    AFP suggested it was a ‘a personal failure for Mrs May, who had called the legislative elections anticipating a large majority to negotiate the exit from the European Union.

    ‘The Conservatives were ahead in the polls but lost a dozen seats, while the Labour opposition won around thirty, according to these almost certain results after which the Tories will not be able to obtain an absolute majority.’

    Spanish daily El Pais accused Theresa May of ‘short-termism’ in an editorial piece.

    It said: ‘The short-term adventurism of the British PM Theresa May has reached its end in the polls in the first occasion in which the leader submitted her candidacy to public scrutiny.

    ‘If May brought yesterday’s elections forward to achieve electoral backing for the UK’s crucial Brexit negotiations, as she repeatedly claimed, the result she’s obtained has been exactly the opposite.’

    Writer and journalist Berna Gonzalez Harbour, in a piece titled ‘When the United Kingdom went wrong’, claimed May had continued to fuel the ‘mistake machine’ Tony Blair had turned on by distancing Britain from Europe despite his pro-European colours and aligning it with George Bush and his illegal war on Irak.

    She wrote: ‘It’s difficult to imagine that May will stop the mistake machine when she’s talking about the end of tolerance (what tolerance?) and about hard Brexit.’

    Rival El Mundo claimed the ‘strong and stable’ Margaret Thatcher-style image May had tried to project had gone from ‘inspiring confidence among her voters to causing the same effect as a joke told too many times.’

    Blaming the electoral result on several factors including her ‘Dementia tax’ and criticism over police cuts while she was Home Secretary following the Manchester and London terrorist attacks, it added: ‘The Conservative party has won the elections but they have lost their absolute majority.

    ‘May, who had called these elections to increase her majority in Parliament so she could negotiate Brexit with a stronger hand, has failed.’

    • Courtesy: Mailonline
  • Theresa May to seek Queen’s permission to form government

    Theresa May to seek Queen’s permission to form government

    British Prime Minister, Theresa May, is to ask Queen Elizabeth for permission to form a government at 11:30 GMT on Friday.

    A spokesman from May’s said, after she failed to win an outright majority at a national election.

    British voters dealt May a devastating blow in a snap election she had called to strengthen her hand in Brexit talks, wiping out her parliamentary majority and throwing the country into political turmoil.

    With no clear winner emerging from Thursday’s election, a wounded May signaled on Friday that she would fight on.

    Her Labour rival Jeremy Corbyn, once written off by his opponents as a no-hoper, said May should step down and he wanted to form a minority government.

    In the aftermath of one of the most sensational nights in British electoral history, politicians and commentators called May’s decision to hold the election a colossal mistake and derided her performance on the campaign trail. She appeared determined to tough it out, however.

    “Theresa May has no intention of announcing her resignation later today,” BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg told BBC radio.

    With 649 of 650 seats declared, the Conservatives had won 318 seats.

    Though the biggest single winner, they failed to reach the 326-mark they would need to command a parliamentary majority. Labour had won 261 seats.

    With complex talks on Britain’s divorce from the European Union due to start in 10 days, it was unclear who would form the next government and what the direction of Brexit would be.

    From the EU’s perspective, the upset meant a possible delay in the start of Brexit talks and an increased risk that negotiations would fail.

    “We need a government that can act.

    “With a weak negotiating partner, there’s a danger that the negotiations will turn out badly for both sides EU Budget Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said.

    The EU’s chief negotiator said the bloc’s stance on Brexit and the timetable for the talks were clear, but the divorce negotiations should only start when Britain is ready.

    “Let’s put our minds together on striking a deal,” Michel Barnier said.

  • Women make historic gains in British election

    Women make historic gains in British election

    Women have entered Britain’s parliament in record numbers after Thursday’s election, winning at least 200 seats in the 650-seat parliament.

    The last parliament had 196 female lawmakers, voted in at the election in 2015 and subsequent by-elections.

    NAN reports that Preet Gill, the first Sikh woman to be elected to the British parliament’s House of Commons, is from the opposition Labour party.

    Britain’s election ended in a hung parliament early Friday, with Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservatives losing their majority.

    With results in 637 constituencies counted, no party was in a position to gain the 326 seats required to gain an absolute majority in the 650-seat parliament.

    The Conservatives had won 311, the opposition Labour party were on 258 and the Scottish National Party were in third position with 34.

    The result is a humiliation for May, who had called the snap election in the hope of boosting her mandate to carry out the country’s Brexit negotiations.

    Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn called on her to step down, saying she should “go and make way for a government that is truly representative of this country.”

    But May indicated she would seek to remain in office.

    “At this time more than anything else, this country needs a period of stability,” she said after being re-elected in her Maidenhead constituency.

    “And if, as the indications have shown and if this is correct that the Conservative Party has won the most seats and probably the most votes, then it will be incumbent on us to ensure we have that period of stability, and that is exactly what we will do.”

  • Pound pummeled by UK election upset, other currencies calm

    Pound pummeled by UK election upset, other currencies calm

    Britain’s pound took a battering on Friday after Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservative Party lost its parliamentary majority in elections, potentially disrupting Brexit negotiations.

    Sterling fell two per cent to 1.2698 dollars after sliding as much as 2.5 per cent to 1.2636 dollars in early European trade “GBP=D4”, its weakest level since April 18.

    May faced calls to quit after her election gamble to win a stronger mandate backfired, leaving no single party with a clear claim to power just 10 days before the start of negotiations on Britain’s divorce from the European Union.

    She is due to make a speech at 0900 GMT.

    “The market wants more clarity now in terms of who is going to be Prime Minister, what form the government is going to take and ultimately how all that feeds through into upcoming Brexit negotiations,” said currency strategist Lee Hardman in London.

    “In the near term the increased political uncertainty and the risk of more disorderly Brexit negotiations should enforce pound weakness.”

    Reactions in other major currencies such as the dollar, euro and yen were limited.

    They had already largely shrugged off Thursday’s testimony by former FBI director James Comey, which had been seen as the week’s other big event.

    “Other currencies, like dollar/yen, are not reacting much as it is a more domestic affair this time, unlike in 2016’s Brexit vote,” said Koji Fukaya, president at FPG Securities in Tokyo.

    “The focus for the broader currency market will now shift toward the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting on Monday.”

    The Fed is widely expected to hike interest rates after it ends a two-day meeting on Wednesday, and the focus is on whether it would leave the door open for further monetary tightening in the months to come.

    It had retreated to a seven-month low of 96.511 midweek when caution ahead of Comey’s testimony and the British election drove U.S. yields to lowest levels since November.

  • May’s bid for stronger Brexit hand at stake in UK election

    May’s bid for stronger Brexit hand at stake in UK election

    British Prime Minister Theresa May faces the voters on Thursday in an election she called to strengthen her hand in looming Brexit talks, with her personal authority at stake after a campaign that saw her lead in opinion polls contract.

    Voting began at 0600 GMT amid tight security nationwide after two Islamist attacks killed 30 people in Manchester and London in less than two weeks, thrusting the issue of how to counter violent extremism to the top of the agenda in the closing stages of the campaign.

    A final flurry of opinion polls gave May’s Conservatives a lead ranging between five and 12 percentage points over the main opposition Labour Party, suggesting she would increase her majority, but not win the landslide foreseen when she called the election seven weeks ago.

    Voting ends at 2100 GMT.

    There will be an exit poll as soon as voting finishes.

    The first handful of seat results are expected to be announced by 2300 GMT, with the vast majority of the 650 constituencies due to announce results between 0200 GMT and 0500 GMT on Friday morning.

    Both main parties were on the defensive after Saturday’s van and knife attack in the heart of London.

    May faced questions over cuts in the number of police officers during her six years as interior minister and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn drew criticism for, among other things, voting against some counter-terrorism legislation.

    British police investigating the London attacks said they had arrested three more suspects late on Wednesday as footage of the dramatic moment officers shot dead the assailants appeared online.

    Two of the men, aged 27 and 29, were held on suspicion of preparing acts of terrorism while the third was detained over suspected drugs offences.

    In the final hours of campaigning, both leaders returned to their core campaign messages.

    “If we get Brexit right, we can build a Britain that is more prosperous and more secure, a Britain in which prosperity and opportunity is shared by all,” May said in a last appeal to voters to trust her to “knuckle down and get the job done”.

    After becoming prime minister without an election taking place in the turmoil that followed last year’s EU referendum, May wants a personal mandate and a parliamentary majority bigger than the one she inherited from predecessor David Cameron.

    Basing her campaign on the slogan of “strong and stable leadership”, she has said she alone could face the 27 other EU leaders and clinch a deal that would give Britain control over immigration policy while ensuring favorable trading terms.

    She has portrayed Corbyn as the weak and hapless leader of a spendthrift party that would hit voters with a “tax bombshell”, crash the economy and flounder in the Brexit negotiations.

    Corbyn has hit back that Conservative fiscal austerity imposed since 2010 has hurt the poor and widened social inequalities.

    May’s campaign has not gone to plan, and as the poll leads of 20 points or more she was enjoying when she called the early election in April have shrunk, talk of a landslide victory has faded and her personal standing has taken a hit.

    As a result, the extent of her control over her fractious party and of her margin for maneuver going into the Brexit talks will hinge on the size of her majority, and on whether it is perceived to be a significant improvement on Cameron’s.

    Provided she wins, she will have averted at least one risk: by pushing back the date of the following election to 2022 rather than 2020 as originally planned, she has ensured she will not face crunch time in the Brexit talks at the same time as an election.

    Some in the EU are hoping May does increase her majority, on the basis that the main risk for the bloc is a collapse in talks, and that is more easily avoided with a British government that is not vulnerable at home.

    “We need a government strong enough to negotiate,” a senior EU lawmaker told Reuters this week.

    But others have sought to downplay the impact of the election regardless of the outcome, suggesting that it was little more than a domestic political sideshow.

    Meanwhile, veteran left-winger Corbyn, who was written off as a no-hoper by most political analysts, surprised on the upside with a policy-rich campaign that drew large, fervent crowds to his events, although skeptics say his appeal in the broader electorate is limited.

    He proposes building a fairer society through policies such as raising taxes for the richest five per cent, scrapping university tuition fees and investing 250 billion pounds (315 billion dollars) in infrastructure,
    plans which the Conservatives say are fiscally irresponsible.

    “Labour’s campaign has already changed the face of British politics,” Corbyn said in a final campaign rally.

    “As we prepare for government, we have already changed the debate and given people hope. Hope that it doesn’t have to be like this, that inequality can be tackled, that austerity can be ended, that you can stand up to the elites and the cynics.”

    There was only one point of agreement between May and Corbyn, which was that the strongest signal that Britons could send to show they were not cowed by the recent spate of attacks would be to go out and vote.