British Election Sends Shockwaves Felt Here and Abroad

Last week’s General Election in the United Kingdom was a disaster for the new conservative government of Prime Minster Theresa May. Having called the unnecessary “snap” elections in order to strengthen her political hand, the result actually reduced the number of seats held by the conservatives and delivered large gains to the opposition Labour party, which had seemed in disarray just a few months ago. Although she has announced no plans to step down, her position has been severely weakened, possibly fatally. More pointedly, the UK’s hand in negotiating favorable Brexit terms has eroded substantially. Besides creating significant ramifications for the European and global economy, the election also provides important lessons for the potential state of American politics.
In my mind, four main reasons explain the election. The first and most important was May’s crucial misreading of British voter sentiment. Like the surprise election of President Trump in November, last year’s Brexit Referendum revealed how deep anti-establishment sentiment has become. May failed to sense that this sentiment had shifted to her government which was seen, rightly or wrongly, as responsible for the country’s current malaise including low economic growth, mass immigration and local terrorism.

This post was published at GoldSeek on June 15, 2017.