Friday 13 December 2019 2:45 am
https://www.cityam.com/a-dramatic-result-that-changes-everything/
We will leave the EU by the end of January and enter the transition phase. After that, Johnson will have sufficient support to drive the next stage of negotiations.
It won’t eradicate the difficulties and intricacies of a UK–EU trade deal, but those negotiations will not be conducted by a government under constant fire. Instead, for the first time since the summer of 2017, Her Majesty’s government will be confident and in command.
The political map of the UK has been redrawn, and while at the time of going to print we do not know all the details, it is safe — indeed, it is necessary — to recognise that we have now entered a new political era.
After a decade in office, the Tory party is embarking on a new age of dominance. The achievement is unprecedented and the impact will be profound. The turmoil of Brexit took this country to the edge, and a divided parliament was the consequence and the symbol of that division.
Can Johnson use his new position to bring the country back together? Because, as this newspaper has never tired of saying, there is more to life than the manner of our departure from the European Union.
From public services to housing, from the economy to infrastructure, issues that have been put on hold for years can now demand attention. As for Labour, the loss is entirely of its own making. An extreme, hard-left and intolerant project has been dismssed in the most emphatic way.
The humiliation of Jeremy Corbyn cannot be explained only by his Brexit ambiguity. His agenda, his character, his history and his philosophy were put to the British public and the British public rejected him.
Let us hope that with his departure from the stage, the stain of antisemitism can recede from our politics. While Corbyn’s loyal supporters last night refused to countenance the idea that Labour could rebuild as a mainstream, patriotic party of the centre-left, there is nowhere else for it to go.
The dust is yet to settle, and the full results will reveal surprises and challenges for all parties, but this result could restore a quality to our national life that has been sorely lacking: confidence.
Confidence in the government, in the markets, in Britain and in a people who, when offered socialism, rejected it.
Main image: Getty
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https://www.cityam.com/a-dramatic-result-that-changes-everything/
