The United Kingdom has voted in a general election seen as a critical juncture in the Brexit crisis engulfing British politics.
Thursday’s high-stakes ballot came after months of political deadlock over the UK’s drama-filled bid to quit the European Union, with MPs split over how to execute the result of the 2016 referendum on membership of the bloc. Final results are expected by early Friday morning.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party and Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party offered starkly different visions for resolving the impasse and rebuilding the UK after a decade of austerity during a febrile campaign period in the lead up to the vote.
Here are the latest updates:
Thursday, December 12
2255GMT: Sterling soars
The pound has soared against the dollar and the euro in the aftermath of the exit poll, as investors predict a level of stability to the UK’s government absent in recent years.
The pound was up 2.21 percent to 1.347 dollars – an 18-month high – and up 1.38 percent to 1.205 euros, a level close to before the 2016 Brexit referendum.
“Markets hate uncertainty but they would have hated a Corbyn government a lot more,” Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Markets.com, told the Press Association news agency.
Dean Turner, an economist at UBS Wealth Management, added: “We’ve long said that sterling looks a very cheap currency. If Brexit is indeed completed by the end of January, we see the pound trading as high as 1.35 against the US dollar.
“However, a long-term lack of clarity on Brexit and sterling to produce minimal UK earnings growth next year.”
2245GMT: ‘The Brexit we deserve’
David Allen Green is a noted legal blogger who has built a reputation for his commentary on the way Brexit is being delivered.
Well
If the exit poll is correct then it cannot be said, after three-and-a-half years of Brexit chaos and calamity in plain sight, that voters could not have known what they were voting for
This will not be the Brexit we need or want
But it will now be the Brexit we deserve https://t.co/dI4oSblOyn
— David Allen Green (@davidallengreen) December 12, 2019
2230GMT: What the pollsters are saying
Chris Hopkins, head of political research at research consultancy Savanta ComRes, told Al Jazeera the exit poll indicated the prime minister’s “pared-back” campaign messaging had worked.
“If this was the Brexit election and it looks like, for all intents and purposes if this exit poll is correct, that it was, then the simple message of ‘Get Brexit Done’ has clearly resonated,” Hopkins said.
“Johnson is going to want to get his Brexit deal through as soon as he can, and it sounds like he is going to have the numbers to do so at a canter really, very, very easily.”
2210GMT: First reactions to exit poll
“Northern Ireland has been thrown into uncertainty, while the Labour vote appears to have collapsed in the Midlands and the north,” Scott Lucas, professor of international politics at the University of Birmingham, has told Al Jazeera. “Could Scotland now look for independence in the next five years?”
The exit poll suggests the Scottish National Party will win 55 seats, a major boost for the pro-independence party. But Johnson’s Conservatives have ruled out an independence vote, and if the exit poll does translate into a large win for the Tories, the SNP’s ambitions will face serious obstacles.
“Many people will now be wondering where this leaves the very many people who are worried about Brexit here in Scotland, which voted by a majority to remain in the EU, and who may now be starting to shift towards favouring independence for Scotland from the United Kingdom,” said Al Jazeera’s Nadim Baba, reporting from Edinburgh, the Scottish capital.
2205GMT: Race is on for first official results
With polls now closed, constituencies in the north-east of England are racing to be the first to declare official results. We’re likely to see both Newcastle Central and Houghton and Sunderland South declare within the coming hour.
2200GMT: Exit poll figures announced
A poll of more than 20,000 voters suggests Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party winning 368 seats and Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour securing just 191 seats – a very large Conservative majority of 86 seats.
2150GMT: Last moments of voting
With voting due to end at 2200GMT, and the release of the all-important exit poll at the same time, Britons are waiting with baited breath to see who will be ruling them in the morning.
Al Jazeera has been covering this election in detail throughout the campaign. Here are some of the highlights of our coverage so far:
Listening Post: Misinformation, lies and media spin: Inside the UK election
‘The rot of Tory Islamophobia goes all the way to top’
Hard Times: One UK town’s struggle in the age of austerity
And while you’re waiting for the results to start trickling in, why not refresh your memory of what is at stake in this election with our handy infographic guide?
