The Brexit election explained: where do we go from here?

let the healing begin Boris Johnson declared today in a victory speech on the steps of number 10 aimed at bringing a fractured country back together he insisted the focus would be on the NHS but his landslide victory puts a brexit right back on the immediate agenda that withdrawal bill likely to go before MPs next week and it will put Scottish independence front and center too thanks to a resurgent SMP as for labour with their worst results since the thirties the political recriminations begin and the search for a new leader let's take a look at the result by numbers with all seas declared the Conservatives have 365 MPs labour has two hundred and three fewer than Michael foot one in none in the 1983 election the SMP will have 48 seats and the Lib Dems just 11 all that means Boris Johnson will enjoy a majority of 80 the Tories have gained 47 seats on the 2017 results labour have lost 59 the SNP picked up 13 and the Lib Dems are down one Boris Johnson won just over 43 percent of the vote only a slight improvement on Tory's amazed performance but labour took just 32 percent with the Lib Dems on 11 the big story Labour's votes share is down by nearly 8 percentage points and especially in its northern heartland the Lib Dem vote did rise significantly but not enough to win seats our political editor Gary Gibbon is with me again Gary the big significance of last night is that brexit is now happening if you have a pro second referendum banner of blueberry with stars on it put it away in the cupboard that is not going to happen what is going to happen this breaks it and Boris Johnson is going to move as fast as he possibly can to make sure that the first phase of that the delivery of the divorce bill into law us actually technically leaving EU happens very quickly potentially with the second reading of that bill a week today what he does actually in terms of the new relationship is an interesting open question because an awful lot of people are wondering where exactly he will take that everybody's wondering whether he can remotely keep to the timetable his set but all of that getting over the timetable blurring that maybe tacking slightly closer to Europe than people might expect all of that becomes possible because he's a man with a great big hefty majority now something we haven't seen of course in Downing Street for some time but the other massive thing about last night is what it does for the realignment of British politics you've been talking there about what's happened to Labour's heart clans the most obvious comparison that we keep going back to to understand last night is what happened under Michael foot in 1983 when the party reduced to what we thought was its irreducible core labour now controls only half of the seats that were in that irreducible core it is an extraordinary transformation of our politics and the seats that they are left with are potentially more vulnerable to other sort of sweeps and changes or new political movements that could crop up we have of course a different kind of general election in Scotland it looks as though a constitutional crisis is coming towards us in Northern Ireland as you said some very interesting changes where for the first time unionists not holding the majority of seats there are occasionally general elections we have seen them in the past where not much actually changes this is most emphatically not one of those he's back and with the majority bigger the men in his team had ever dared to dream of horas Johnson now the most powerful Prime Minister since Tony Blair [Music] and after the Queen formally asked him to form a government he spoke to those voters in the old labor heartlands who'd given him their votes to all those who voted for us for the first time and those whose pencils may have wavered over the ballot and who heard the voices of their parents and their grandparents whispering anxiously in their ears I say thank you for the trust you have placed in us and in me and we will work round the clock to repay your trust and to deliver on your priorities with a parliament that works for you watched by his team including advisor Dominic Cummings he called on the nation to come together I frankly urge everyone on either side of what are after three years three and a half years after all an increasingly arid argument I urge everyone to find closure and to let the healing begin in Levy the Conservative Party candidate 17,000 it was a night of Tory wins in seats labour thought it could not lose like live valley facet law to the drawn-out saga of brexit driving leaves supporting labour backers into the arms of the Tories but you couldn't some said Park all the blame on bricks it it wasn't just about brexit it was me so provider about the perceptions of the party and the leadership has jeremy corbyn cost you your job tonight absolutely completely but I shouldn't be surprised in that because Jeremy Corbyn and I have very very little in common we just both happen to be members of the Labour Party Corbin was a disaster on the doorstep everyone knew that he couldn't lead the working-class out of a paper bag now John's developed this momentum group this party within a party aiming to keep the purity the culture of betrayal goes on you'll hear it now more and more over the next couple of days as these this little cults get their act together I want them out of the party I want the mentum gone I think that would be a disaster for the Labour Party and a disaster for the politics music wheeled out of labour campaign headquarters a white board of Tory games as it wiped clean or did they give up writing them down that were 54 Tory gains from labour Jeremy Corbyn announced he'd stand down when a new leader was in place process aides said that could take a minimum of three months he insisted his manifesto was the right one but the media had been hostile and brexit was at the heart of Labour's disastrous result I think the issue that dominated this election ultimately was brexit our policies I've named some there are many many others I could name were actually all of them individually very popular there was no and there was no huge debate or disagreement in the party about any of the policies in our manifesto chamber the Labour target that slipped from the party's grasp tonight the unite general secretary Len McCluskey described the manifesto as an incontinent mess of unbelievable promises while labour argues about we're next back in number 10 Dominic Cummings has been leading the planning for domestic policy some in Whitehall worried what he might have in store this morning cameras caught him offering his hand to the cabinet secretary Sir Mark said well one thing definitely in store the fast track progress of the brexit divorce bill after another Queen's speech next Thursday the second reading is expected a week today the big majority now guarantee the stairs are strengthened Boris Johnson implements a plan Northern Ireland's DUP loathes the party's lost its deputy leader Nigel Dobbs and unionists for the first time no longer hold the majority of Northern Ireland Westminster seats the Lib Dems Joe Swenson had called for this early election and was its biggest casualty losing her seat to the SNP nearly five months into her leadership where the people attacked my vision are my voice my ideas or my earrings one of the realities of smashing glass ceilings is that a lot of broken glass comes down on your head on a personal level I do feel for Joe Swanson it's not easy to lead a campaign and you know to lose her seat is a real really cruel blow so yes I do have a lot of sympathy all that was well hidden when Nicola Sturgeon actually heard the news there was a lot for the SNP to celebrate back up to 48 of the 59 seats in Scotland the SNP leader says Boris Johnson must now give Scotland a second referendum on independence a calls she believes brexit will greatly strengthen getting brexit done is now the irrefutable irresistible unarguable decision of the British people and with this election I think we put an end to all those middle miserable threats of a second referendum he insists he wants to meld one nation but looking at how leave and remain seats voted differently you see how difficult that might be if you look at the seats that voted strongly for leaves 60% plus as much bigger swing to the Tories here if it was up to them if all the seats behave like these tory's would have 118 majority now look at seats that voted strongly for remain in the referendum and the swings are different if it was down to them the Tories would be clinging on with the majority of six as it is he's back with 80 whole new voter base he must please a timetable for EU trade negotiations many think unachievable the massive majority it gives a leader authority to act not seen in this place some years well earlier I spoke to the Conservative MP Jillian Keegan and I began by asking her how Boris Johnson can unite the country when the election results suggest it is still bitterly divided I don't think the boats do suggest it's bitterly divided I mean you know we've been talking about one nation conservatism we actually represent every nation we have more seats in Wales now we have six seats still in Scotland we got seats in the Northeast the Northwest we've got seats in the Midlands we've got seats all over the country so we represent every part of the country we represent every different type of people in the country as well from every city different socio demographic so that's the start if you're talking about leave and remain how you unite those people who still may feel they want to remain then the answer there is to do a sensible brexit a good deal with the EU and make sure the voices of the four nations and particularly young people are heard in the next stage of the negotiation do you see any problem with Boris Johnson claiming and mandates for leaving the EU when in fact more people voted for parties that want a second referendum or to revoke than parties that are committed to leave it in our system if this doesn't give a mandate nothing ever will of course it does you know look the Parliament has been stuck the British people have basically cleared the way through and said here you go get on with it we want to leave with a deal and so what kind of government do you think this is going to be I mean you know because we've heard this before we heard this from Theresa May talking about wanting to tackle the Great and Justices and nothing very much happened I mean do you think he will deliver when he says you know he wants to address the concerns of those people who lent their votes that that is what we all want to do the Labour Party in other parties try to pretend also try to proclaim that they've got superior value sets every single person in politics wants to tackle the same issues we have in our country we just think we've got a better more credible plan to do it do you have any concerns about the other agendas that go along with this though I mean those sort of rather oblique references in the Conservative Party manifesto to looking at the Constitution the Supreme Court their approach to the media all of those sorts of things could change at the same time I don't because honestly I think what is what defines the Conservative Party and the reason I'm a conservative is sensible pragmatic policies so the Conservative Party is never going to be extreme people try to paint as as extreme but we're not were actually a centrist by nature very centrist this majority means we will have the ability to be a true one nation conservative government unlike that we haven't seen for decades and I'm very excited about that do you think that goes for the people around Boris Johnson as well I don't know that I guess you're talking about Dominic Cummings and some of those people I don't know that but you know there's a lot of extreme talking in this in this conversation and it was all really around brexit and you know you have very extreme positions like the Lib Dems and you had very extreme positions like the brexit party and you know they paid Dominic Cummings out to be you know somewhere somewhere you know extreme as well I don't see that what he's delivered is a you know a conservator he's helped deliver a conservative majority and for people all over the country you know his strategy and the strategy that the Prime Minister had with many other people has been successful I mean you've always wanted to moderate the party's position on brexit I mean do you think there is any problem with a brexit that is sensible in your terms when there are lots of people who have voted conservative who might otherwise have voted for the brexit party and want something a bit harder you know can you actually satisfy everybody actually if you look at the three and a half years worth of work that's been done with the civil servants with everybody else it is clear that what you need to do to solve the problem of brexit is you need to get something that um picks a 45 year old relationship without damaging everything and give us the opportunity to build a future collaborative arrangement with the EU that's what we'll do it's as simple as that - Keegan thank you very much thank you well while Boris Johnson has been talking about unity hundreds of protesters descended outside Downing Street tonight Whitehall was briefly closed to traffic in both directions as the crowds waving placards declaring defy Tory rule began a heading northwards towards London's busy Piccadilly well we'll be back here in Westminster later in the programme but now over to Cathy who's in Wakefield thanks Chris welcome to the red shed the Labour Club in Wakefield a constituency wants the cornerstone of the party's so-called red wall now that's a swathe of the country which marks out from coast to coast huge areas of solid labour seats but now that red wall has crumbled but the Conservatives picking up a host of those seats instead many of the 60 Labour MPs who lost their jobs last night turned angrily on Jeremy Corbyn saying he was simply unelectable but for plenty of voters across the north it was the party's ambiguity over brexit which was to blame like here in Wakefield where Labour's Mary Kray was a prominent remain voice and suffered the consequences as the Conservatives won for the first time since 1931 our political correspondent Liz Bates is here well Liz this was a historic night here wasn't it we make yeah it was and the thing that really stood out for me actually was the political shift that's happened in this area I grew up just down the road from here in Rotherham and to see those seats last night going conservative that just wouldn't have happened a few years ago so big change over a really short period of time the second thing that I really noticed is that among Labour MPs and activists there was a lot of shock actually at the level of loss that they were enduring but when we went out into the streets and spoke to vote to voters they were actually not that surprised which suggests that actually that relationship between labour and its post-industrial Heartland has been breaking down for maybe quite a long time longer than this general election period certainly and of course this was a really difficult night for the Labour Party but this also offers a big opportunity to the Conservatives and they understand that I think I was speaking to number 10 last night even before the results were coming in and they were saying they understand that they have to adapt their program for government to reflect the political needs of these huge weights waves of new voters that they have across the country so that is the political challenge that Boris Johnson will face during his Premiership but of course a really tough night for labour last night and this is how it all played out in Bolsover Derbyshire rehearsals for the Christmas production are in full swing but it's in the room next door that the real drama is unfolding voters here and across the North Attorney out but this time they're painting these Labour Heartland towns blue first time ever baby so that you've changed you've switched debts don't I Corbin the polls had narrowed but on the doorstep labor activists had heard that brexit and their party leader were driving voters away as voting closed box loads of ballot papers swiftly turned those fears into devastating reality and I do hereby declare but mark Peter Fletcher is elected to serve as Member of Parliament for the constituency of bowls over and as Labour's red wall began to collapse there were more casualties down the road in Doncaster Carolyn has just lost her Don Valley seat here tonight amid a labor collapse in its heartland the senior figures are blaming brexit but there are much more fundamental questions for the party to answer what happened tonight for labour I just want to have a bit of time can I just ask you is it time for Jeremy Corbyn to step down now yes who is to blame what's happened to labour tonight I think there's a combination of factors play one is I think Jeremy Corbyn is a leader time and time again on the doorstep people said I like you I'm a laborer through and through my dad was a miner my granddad was miner be turning in his grave if I didn't vote labor but I just can't vote Labour whilst that man as your leader and what was most cut me the last couple of years is the disrespect that has been meted out to my voters you know by you know because they voted leave the current Labour leader has said he won't fight another election but a former Labour leader wasn't in the mood to talk Mr Miliband this is a terrible terrible night for your party do you really have nothing to say at all across Yorkshire nine Labour seats went conservative including Wakefield Mary Cray lost her Wakefield seats here last night she was one of dozens of Labour MPs to lose out as the party suffered its biggest defeat since 1935 and as one senior Insider pointed out to me it could have been so much worse with many more seats seeing huge majorities slashed to just one or two thousand creating a sea of marginals in what used to be a Labour dominated landscape this morning the party rather than uniting to face up to this defeat is more divided than ever over who or what is to blame I'm absolutely elated can we go can I see you guys have you voted for sorry Connor we do yes normally I'm live will people ever go back to labour do you think I think so I think it was a bit of a protest but we'll wait and see so the voters have spoken the question now is can labour rebuild the red wall or have the Tories torn it down for good well I'm joined now by Labour's Shadow Minister for women and equalities nasha nasha should the leadership take responsibility for this historic defeat I think there's a lot of responsibility to be had by lots of people and one of them should but the leadership is takes responsibility because what what jeremy has said that he will not be taken as in to a next general election I think that's the right thing to do he's given me the media he's blamed brexit he hasn't said I blame myself well my respects it has played a role Catholic and we know that we've seen that by the result the kind of results that we've had you know in those largely leave seats you know Mary's here in Wakefield you know she was a heavy remainder she was very clear about her position and that's the price that you know it was really really sad for a little party in particularly for the colleagues I have lost things you see you know there have been a little bit more humility from the leadership an apology even to those 60 colleagues of yours who lost their seats I'm very very sorry and I understand that Jeremy did say he was very sorry this morning for the 60 people that have lost their seats that's my understanding of it and I'm very sorry that we've lost so many colleagues they're very very good people up and down the country it really really is heartbreaking and I'm sorry for our constituents and my constituents you know who returned me to Parliament to be their voice and to the idea of a Tory for the next five years of continued austerity that will impact on places like where I company about the West it really is heartbreaking I mentioned for exit you've said you're sorry for the losses of your colleagues what Jeremy Corbyn ultimately just unelectable and policies if you look at 2017 count so what we had was we had a manifesto but manifesto we went out on was gave as the results that we had in 2017 and in fairness the 2017 when we had the ideas that we put in at this manifesto they were also very popular but the manifesto dish did not cook food breakfast because of the leadership a timely get on the doorstep Labour MPs your colleagues in also see in those that kept them so Jeremy Corbyn kept on coming up there's an opinion poll which said forty three percent of people said that the reason they didn't vote because of Jeremy calling I think one possession I think these are the conversation that the leadership and the anythi need to be having the Shadow Cabinet need to be having once we get back to London and once people have you know we need to be having those conversations and really really digressing and thinking what did go wrong the Union force Len McCluskey said that one of the key reasons for labour losing was the allegations of anti-semitism which he just didn't knock on the head now you apologize for an anti-semitic Facebook post that you shared the leaders seem to find it a lot harder to apologize singing and yes there was Jeremy did apologize he apologized belatedly when closed yes so he has apologized and I'm very very clear now we have change of a system what we did have was a system but it wasn't get the purpose in dealing with the level of complaints we had an increase in membership we've now addressed without have with the majority of apologized register he Jeremy I said himself he would look he would have done things differently and apologized and I think absolutely that's a fair point that we could have done things differently otherwise we wouldn't have been in that position just quickly I mean the next Labour leader should it be a woman in your view well I think that conversation hasn't started until the NEC is made a decision but yes I would look to see a woman lead in the Labour Party and that would be amazing we've got amazing talent you know we really have got some amazing women in the labour party so yeah it's a we'll see when we get back now sure thanks very much for joining me so now well at one end of the all-important red wall is 20 Blair's former seat of Sedgefield it was always considered rock solid labour but now it has a new Conservative MP hour north of England correspondent Clare Fallon is there Clare for well when you think sedge fields chances are you think Tony Blair 1997 labour landslide and in the last 24 hours we have had another huge shift in British politics the red wall as it's been described is now frankly more of a collection of red islands across the north and the Midlands but this is Sedgefield it's Tony Blair's old constituency it's been labour since the 1930s it's an old mining area and it had a majority of 6,000 so few seriously thought that Sedgefield would go blue and yet it did earlier today I spoke to now ex Labour MP for this area he told me all of this is about more than brexit we'll hear from him in a moment but first let's hear from the new Conservative MP don't want to be just the brexit decision but it's up to me it's up to me to prove that you know conservatives can look after this part of the world and that's what we'll do you're saying that the Tory Party needs to now be a party of the north by inference it hasn't been up until this point well if you actually come round and knock a few doors with me what you'll find is actually the comment goes further back than that what I get is twenty blow was our prime minister who is our MP and he didn't do anything for us here he was too busy doing other things when you've got people who will leave the borders all their lives said to you on the doorstep Phil I can't Fort Lee about this time but mine is stopping me for importantly of it and these are people in the 70s and the realities of being labour all the lives and it's just heartbreaking really you know to go actually port to actually put your own supporters through that to make a choice of often wanting not being able to to vote labour anymore but the Volturi to make sure that the leader of the Labour Party doesn't become Prime Minister that's tragic you know it's also worth saying I think that there is really a brutal reality of politics because last night 60 people who were the sitting MP in their constituency who are hoping to carry on representing their area went to account and found out that they were out of a job but it's not just the end piece because bear in mind there are also members of staff who work for members of parliament and they also many of them will be out of a job Claire thanks very much well joining us now from wakeful is a newly elected Conservative MP Imran Ahmed Khan congratulations what do you think was the biggest factor in that demolition of the red wall I think of course Briggs it was a big matter but what does Prichard mean what does it mean to the people Wakefield I didn't know tired of politicians telling them what to think there are a lot of daughters husbands wives children of coal miners that were very very annoyed that they had been told by Islington remain errs and others that had come up to get them to vote for remain in the referendum 2016 I did I did they were told when they didn't agree with those people that they were either stupid uneducated racist or wrong and there was a massive rejection of this and it was as if they were party had left them behind well how is the Conservative Party under Boris Johnson going to make sure that you keep those former labour voters on board well I'm great I hope that they live in the Conservative Party will reenter age itself entirely to the people to the strivers and the aspirational they are the natural conservatives they can search of what people of Wakefield want I have found is a party that's going to be with them every step of the way as they improve their lives who can provide first-class services both in education the health service governments have cut cut cut on health and education will you see that narrative is often used by labour actually doesn't so in week for example the people here are pani enough and they don't need people talking down to them from from Islington or else were so we have a PFI deal that was done under Andy Burnham the present mayor of Manchester and in fact my predecessor maybe cui was a junior health minister at the time it was a two hundred and seven million million pound investments costing billions and it was based on one reconquer terms and the people realize they're not getting good services because of a really bad privatization deal orchestrated by labour not the tourists but do you believe that Boris Johnson is a one nation Tory I should we do more important than even I believe a conservative ethos of aspiration of enterprise and also that the citizen is king and not the state Marxism and socialism is and the people of Wakefield have rejected as an indeed of cross Yorkshire that the state should be master over the citizen in the citizen subject now the you the previous candidate you were sort of bit of a johnny-come-lately actually here I mean the previous candidate had to step down after some racist social media posts were found do you think the Conservatives do have a deep Islamophobia problem first of all they take exception to being a johnny-come-lately I was born in this constituency my father was the dermatologist my mother was did her nurse training here my grandmother was the nice sister at local hospital I went to school here johnny-come-lately is certainly not I think somebody who was raised in common to him was a campaign office manager for Mary I mean it could be regretful I don't find it I think inquiry to size the leave I believe all forms of racism prejudice of any sort whether it's about religion or sexuality or gender should be rooted out it has no place in a decent society and women comparison to letterboxes and family did you take a vessel no no no because read the context the context was saying that women everywhere should be empowered to dress as they wish and of course as a change in racist attacks after that collar well does it do you combination innovation as you know very well the two very very separate things and you will also know as a journalist sensationalism is a very good way to attract people to read your article mr. Johnson as a great journalist was doing just that now he's a statesman now as a prime minister his language would be slightly more tempered thank you very much for coming to the lion's den the labor club here thank you very much after the break we're in Wrexham in Wales where voters deserted Jeremy Corbyn to elect the town's first conservative since the 1930s but before that we'll return to Chris first Kathy well that's the story in the north of England but what's the reaction being elsewhere in the United Kingdom and Europe in a moment we'll hear from our correspondents in Belfast and in wrexham but first let's go to our scotland correspondent Karen Jenkins who's in Edinburgh where Nicola Sturgeon has been setting out her plans for another independence referendum yes krishnan the Prime Minister and Nicola Sturgeon have actually been speaking on the phone this evening he told her what she already knows that he's against a second independence referendum she told him to respect the mandate that she says the SNP now has Boris Johnson's Conservatives pummeled in Scotland labour eviscerated the SNP swept the Westminster party's away Nicola Sturgeon could have a formal request for an independence vote on Boris Johnson's desk within days in Scotland the only landslide was Perce a watershed moment says Nicola Sturgeon she will request a referendum on independence within days that Boris Johnson has long said he'll flat-out refuse the prime minister let me be very clear this is not simply a demand that I or the SNP are making it is the rate of the people of Scotland the SNP message is evolving a campaign fought on the words stop brexit today the podium reads Scotland's Choice your bus what did it say stop brakes it now you're saying something else you're saying there's no endorsement of a second independent reform the recei aspects probably said them to you in interviews many times to the snps campaign stop Boris Johnson stop breaks it and put Scotland's future into Scotland's hands but for the Tories in Scotland this was an election on independence stopping it their flagship pitch and they lost more than half their seats Boris Johnson now talks of uniting the country even as Scotland embraced MPs seeking a vote on breaking away for how long realistically can he keep saying no the Prime Minister may be emboldened by Labour's gloomy prospects they used to forge majorities with Scottish MPs now there's one and he's not happy this party must listen and this party must respond or this party will die Boris Johnson has his mandate so do I says Nicola Sturgeon the scenes set for the row of all rows over Scotland's future well in another sign of this new political landscape for the first time Northern Ireland now has more nationalist and Republican MPs than unionists there were some major defeats for the Democratic unionists including their deputy leader Nigel Dodds who lost his seat to shin Fane there were gains too for the SDLP and alliance parties all three strongly opposed to brexit are chief correspondent Alex Thompson is in Belfast yes already the Prime Minister's been on to his Irish counterpart saying his number one priority restoring the power sharing assembly here at Stormont after a night in which unionism fell to a new low in terms of power reach voice influence a slew of nationalist and Republican Pro remain parties though had a very strong night so strong some already openly campaigning to further that strategy in very much an all Ireland not a UK context all in all quite an IDE the very essence of the story Republican John kanou-kun his father murdered by loyalists leading the political shock of the night wiping the DUP Westminster leader off the political map on a night that brought unionist power here to a new low commiserations but the deep E's pivotal days of the Commons are gone shin fain now working brexit in an all island context but not a united Ireland our protagonist well come from making sure that our voice is heard in Dublin making our voices heard and bustles and I think to be fair that as a negotiating position that's been hardwired in the Irish government the European Union from very early doors major gains - for the equally NT brick seed SDLP winning in Belfast and Derry and attacking shin fain for refusing to take Westminster seats or Stormont ones at present the people of Derry have just said an office enough they're fed up having their represent the representative standing outside looking in the window they want people to be in there whether that's an West once they're fighting for us or Stormont delivering for us because they can see the public sector is crumbling talks begin on Monday to attempt to get the power-sharing assembly here at Stormont functioning again after three years years which have seen public services like the NHS fall into genuine crisis as all parties here agree the DUP down from 10 to 8 MPs and knowing they've lost in numbers but in influence to the Tories can simply ignore them to deliver a brexit this party regards as a sellout with its border in the Irish Sea we will stand up for Northern Ireland as we always do we will use whatever influence we have and west we'll use the relationships that we have built up over the past two and a half years to work for the good of Northern Ireland that's what we intend to do brave rhetoric of course but their loss is over here and the Tory landslide over there add up to a new low in unionist influence inside and outside Northern Ireland Alex Thompson Channel 4 News Belfast well over in Brussels European leaders say they are expecting newly elected MPs to vote on mr. Johnson's withdraw the agreement as soon as possible while Chancellor Merkel of Germany questioned the Prime Minister's claim that he can get a second agreement a trade deal with the EU by the end of next year our foreign affairs correspondent Jonathan Rugman is in Brussels Jonathan there is relief here in Brussels that the UK is finally on course to leave the EU at the end of next month but what about the next battle over the trade agreement well Angela Merkel who congratulated Boris Johnson tonight has described the UK as an enemy a competitor I should say on Europe's doorstep her reinforcing comments from President macron of France that the UK must agree to EU rules and regulations as the price for any future free trade deal Boris Johnson's absence from today's summit is a sign of things to come his overnight gift to the --use chief negotiator is that the British are leaving in 49 days time we have been waiting for one year for the UK to tell us what it wants now we have clarity and obviously I want to tell my best wishes wish all the best to the prime minister of UK boys Johnson and to the government of UK but how long will this bonhomie last given the Prime Minister's next deadline a trade deal with all 27 EU leaders in one year's time does the clarity of the result in Westminster in your view make it easier to strike a trade deal next year I think it does striking a trade deal by the end of 2020 is enormous ly ambitious but we won't achieve if we don't try and we're determined to try and I think the fact that Prime Minister Johnson has a clear majority and has been given a big personal mandate as well makes a big difference though not all the UK's biggest trading partners are that confident Chancellor Merkel of Germany called a deal by next year very complicated warning that it may take longer our biggest hurdle will be that we need to sort out these issues fairly quickly we need to conclude by the end of next year and decide by June whether we want to extend the negotiation period still the Prime Minister's critics here now admit that last night's election result does for the moment clear the air I still regret the outcome of the referendum but I respect it and I'm happy that it will be finally now over which this situation where we are able to agree here but in London they are not able to agree so finish this situation and Jonathan Rugman Channel 4 News Brussels well those protests that were outside Downing Street earlier this evening have now made their way down here there they're carrying defy Tory rule posters but there they're still moving and moving past well a year ago Boris Johnson was a frustrated backbencher railing against Theresa Mays leadership today he has led his party to a triumphant victory talking of healing and one nation conservatism but from a man who was often expressed contradictory beliefs just what do we know about the prime minister and what he really thinks joining me now is Salma Shah a former special advisor to conservative government ministers and curvy arranger who worked with Boris Johnson as director of transport policy when he was mayor of London um sama Shah I mean a lot of people are suspicious of what is the real Boris Johnson is it there you know they've determined fighter who prorogued Parliament and did all those things when he didn't have a majority or is he this magnanimous one nation tour who we see on the steps of Downing Street I think the ultimate Boris Johnson is someone who's very pragmatic which is definitely something that you've seen from what he said on Downing Street today just referencing this protest that's coming back you can see his absolute need to try and have a unifying one nation Tory message so what we are seeing is a transition from campaigning Boris Johnson into Statesman Boris Johnson and I actually think it gives a lot of people some comfort that he's moving into that mold range I mean you work for and obviously you're a fan but I mean explain why you you believe the sort of the more liberal Boris Johnson well I worked with him you're right and what I saw was Boris before he became mayor of London then in fact if we rewind to late 2007 Bush was a late replacement to be the mayoral candidate when the then candidate Nick Bowles said she was on what became ill and at that point boys had to work out what he was going to stand for to be Marilyn and in fact win this city over to Tories and reach out to non-traditional Tory voters and what he does and what he's done best throughout his career is listen to people he spends a lot of time this to a broad spectrum of people which is why people say Boris's the Heineken politician he sort of gets his finger on the pulse of things that's his listening and then what he does is he makes his promises and commitments based on what he's heard then as Salma is demonstrating and saying well he moves into his The Statesman who delivers and it's delivery that then gets him that momentum to keep doing more and more suppose what you're both saying is that it's by a sort of quirk of fate Boris Johnson's ended up in a similar position now in whether he believes it or not pragmatically he's got to appeal to labor voters because he wants to be reelected he's just been elected by traditional labor voters and what he said last night was um you know I did trust me i we know that you've lent us your vote so he knows that he's got to consolidate this victory much further by changing tack slightly now that he is a prime minister sitting on oh you can't please everyone tell you how can you please the right but there will be ways once he gets through brexit which is going to be an incredibly complicated process there are ways that you can do that Margaret Thatcher did it and Tony Blair did it both on opposing side appealing to different people so there have in every man leaders previously and he did it before because the second election in London which we fought he defied as it was said then the laws of political gravity I think the Conservative Party was 17 or 18 points behind in the polls in London he with his personal mandate won that election and that was by reaching across by demonstrating it was a one nation Mary or one city mayor at that point reaching out and that's what he's going to demonstrate I think as Prime Minister and that's what he's starting with right now Square you know brexit and immigration controls with his old immigration amnesty positions and things like that it's a you know it's all that view that says people want to see an element of control they don't want draconian policies they don't want radicalism we've seen what's happened when a party presents radicalism to people they run away from it he will find the answers that will reach that middle ground and he will be exactly in the middle ground and retain that space whether it comes to security whether it comes to investment he will have to make compromises undoubtedly and that those compromises will come at some kind of personal cost to him and his leadership but those are things that we will wait and see how they actually pan out you know the truth is he's got this fantastic majority but he has a hell of a job to do with delivering brexit and I mean we're in the almost of cynicism not almost a certain situation of no no sooner are you elected then Minds turn to five years down the road and how you're re-elected and do you know what there is no point in doing that because as a veteran of campaigns as call viewers as well I remember the elation after the 2015 campaign when the Tories came back with a small majority and pundits were saying go god this is going to be like the next Tory decade and look at what happened there is no predicting what's gonna happen in five years because a week is a long time as we all know is absolu right these are the moments when people all like to project forward the next election what will it mean for the Labour Party in the next election where will the Liberal Democrats be really it's about what's going to happen next year and boaster has to take this momentum that he's got from this mandate he has to progress the bracelet conversation and he has to start delivering as some says some of those promises that he's made people will want to see the proof of the pudding on the streets and around the country Kove arranged us a mushaf thank you very much

Channel: Channel 4 News

Views: 409,828

Keywords: election, election uk, election 2019, general election, brexit, brexit news, brexit election, uk brexit, brexit latest, live election, general election 2019, uk general election, election results, election news, election result, uk election live, uk election 2019, boris, johnson, boris johnson, corbyn, boris election, jeremy corbyn, boris johnson election, jo swinson, boris brexit, brexit party, nigel farage, brexit farage

Id: A7Ug8nlrLgY

Length: 45min 56sec (2756 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 13 2019