UK Election: Johnson Wins Crushing Majority in Election that Upends Britian

Boris Johnson won an emphatic election victory that redraws the political map of Britain and gives the prime minister the mandate he needs to pull the U.K. out of the European Union next month.

The result spectacularly vindicated Johnson’s gamble on a snap election to break the deadlock in Parliament over Brexit, as his Conservatives won their biggest majority since Margaret Thatcher’s in 1987. The pound rose by the most in almost three years as the scale of the victory became clear.

“I urge everyone to find closure and to let the healing begin,” Johnson said in a speech outside his Downing Street office in which he acknowledged the divisive three years since the U.K. voted to leave the European Union. “Here in this people’s government the work is now being stepped up to make 2020 a year of prosperity and growth and hope.”

Having routed political opposition to Brexit across much of the country, Johnson still faces resistance in Scotland, where support for the pro-independence Scottish National Party surged, setting up the prospect of a renewed constitutional standoff over the U.K.’s future. (Source: Bloomberg)