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Tories Take First Seat From Labour in N England as Conservative Party Predicted to Win Majority

Boris Johnson's party won its first seat in the snap general election - Blyth Valley - that the opposition Labour Party had held since its foundation in 1950.
Sputnik

Conservative Party has won its first seat in the snap general election from the opposition Labour Party, Reuters reported on Thursday.

The Tories won Blyth Valley, a seat in northern England which has long been a Labour stronghold. In 2017, it was Labour majority of 7,915.

Labour's vote share this time has been 15 per cent lower, while the Tories gained 5.4 per cent.

Conservatives also took Workington, Darlington, Peterborough, Vale of Clwyd and Wrexham from the opposition.

Scottish National Party (SNP) also gained Rutherglen and Hamilton West and Angus from Labour party, ITV reported.

Labour won Houghton and Sunderland South with a majority of 3,115 and Newcastle Central with a majority of 12,278.

Earlier, the exit poll showed that the Conservatives can count on 368 out of 650 seats in the House of Commons, which is 51 seats more than in the parliament of the previous convocation. It would also mean a historical majority for the Tories.

Labour set to win 191 seats, Liberal Democrats 13 and SNP 55 seats. 191 seats would be the worst result for Labour since 1935.

Following the first exit poll, Boris Johnson called the UK the greatest democracy in the world.

The latest national polls also predicted that Johnson and Corbyn would come in first and second place respectively.

The majority in the parliament will allow premier Johnson to go ahead with his Brexit deal.

The UK lawmakers voted on 29 October to set 12 December as the election date after the European Union postponed the deadline for Brexit from 31 October to 31 January. For Johnson and his Conservative party, the call for an election was a last-ditch attempt to gain the support and votes required to pass a renegotiated version of the Brexit deal.

Britain has been in political turmoil since 2016 when British citizens voted to leave the EU. Johnson is now the second British premier to attempt to get Brexit done after former PM Theresa May failed to pass her departure deal in the House of Commons for the third time and had to resign.

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