London, May 8: Prime Minister David Cameron Friday won a stunning majority in Britain, disproving predictions of a hung parliament and was on course to forming a single party government ending a brief coalition era.
The surprise surge ahead by the Conservatives led by the 48-year-old charismatic Cameron saw the party come back to power with 327 seats, just crossing the halfway mark in the 650-member parliament and is tipped to get four more.
“This is the sweetest victory of all,” Cameron told jubilant supporters at the party headquarters after the victory following which he does not need his ally Liberal Democrats with whom he had run the government since 2010.
“We are on the brink of something special in our country. As a majority government we will be able to deliver all our manifesto,” he said in front of 10, Downing Street.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among the first international leader to congratulate him on Facebook with a reference to his campaign slogan: “As you rightly pointed out it’s ‘Phir Ek Baar, Cameron Sarkar!’ My best wishes.”
The main opposition Labour Party suffered the second successive defeat winning only 232 seats, forcing its prime ministerial candidate Ed Miliband to quit as party leader.
Centre-left Liberal Democrats were reduced to single digit (8) from 57 seats won five years ago.
Surprisingly, the Scottish National Party that favours Scotland’s independence from Britain, produced a brilliant performance securing 56 seats, 50 up from the last elections, vanquishing Labour in its strongholds.
The UK Independence Party, which demands withdrawal from the EU, surged into third place in the vote count but won only one seat. PTI
