British voters have delivered a stunning victory to Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Conservative Party, giving the champion of Brexit a large majority in the House of Commons and the support he needs to take the United Kingdom out of the European Union in January.
With almost all results in, the BBC projects that Conservatives will win an absolute majority of 78 seats, giving Johnson a firm mandate to form the next government. Johnson has been prime minister since July following the resignation of his predecessor, Theresa May, and called early elections in a gamble that he has won handily.
The opposition Labour Party suffered its worst defeat in decades, losing at least 59 seats. Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, although he won re-election in his constituency, announced he will not lead Labour in the next election.
Speaking after midnight, Johnson said the results are a "powerful new mandate to get Brexit done" and "that work will begin tomorrow...or rather I should say not tomorrow, today!"
Corbyn, who sought to remake Britain in a socialist vision of nationalized industries, called for "a process of reflection on this result and on the policies that the party will take going forward."
Since the 2016 national referendum in which a narrow majority voted to take Britain out of the European Union, Parliament has repeatedly rejected proposed exit agreements negotiated with the EU. The political dysfunction led Johnson to call early elections in hopes it would give him the majority he needed to pass a plan for Brexit.
It now appears certain Parliament will vote Brexit into law and the U.K. will meet the EU's most recent deadline for Britain to formally leave by Jan. 31.
This is a developing story.
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