United Kingdom general election, 2019 (Fester's World)

The 2019 United Kingdom general election was held on Tuesday, 17 September 2019, with 47,231,956 registered voters entitled to vote to elect members to the House of Commons. The election took place in 650 constituencies across the United Kingdom under the first-past-the-post system. None of the parties achieved the 326 seats needed for an overall majority. The Brexit Party, led by Nigel Farage, won the largest number of votes and seats, but still fell 77 seats short.

This would be the last election contested by the SNP.

Background
The governing Conservative Party had campaigned to secure a fourth consecutive term in office and to restore support lost since 2015. The Labour Party sought to gain a dominant position in British politics after losses in the 2000s, and to replace the Tories as the governing party. The Brexit Party hoped to make gains from both sides and hoped to hold the balance of power in a hung parliament. Since the televised debates between the three leaders, their poll ratings had risen to the point where many considered the possibility of a Brexit Party role in Government.Polls just before election day saw a swing from the Conservatives to the Brexit Party,, with the majority of final polls falling within one point of Labour 24%, Brexit 17%, and the Tories on 16%.[However, record numbers of undecided voters raised uncertainty about the outcome.

Prior to the calling of the general election, incumbent Conserative Prime Minister Theresa May had resigned after a failure to pass the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement. Michael Gove and Jeremy Hunt were the top two candidates selected by MPs that were sent to the members. However, calling for a quick ending and a leader to unite around, Hunt dropped out two weeks later, leaving Gove as the last remaining candidate. This caused controversy, as former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson was consistently leading members' polls.

Gove then attempted to pass Theresa May's 'New Deal' through parliament. It failed, and as a result, ERG members voted to bring down the Government and defected to the Brexit Party.

Results
The results were seen as one of the biggest shocks in British political history. A Conservative collapse was expected, and the Brexit Party were expected to gain around 90 seats. However, they leapfrogged Labour and became the largest party, whilst the Conservatives fell to 54 seats, their worst performance in history. However, the Brexit Party's 249 seats were 77 short of an overall majority.

Labour lost a modest amount of seats and were on 216, whilst the Liberal Democrats were on 51 seats, a gain of 39, short of the Conservatives by 3.

The Scottish Nationalist Party were once again returned as the third largest party, and won 56 seats, an increase of 21.

When this result became apparent, negotiations to form a coalition immediately began.

Negotiations
In Nigel Farage's victory speech, he stated that as his party was the largest, he should have the rights to be first to attempt to form a government. Michael Gove announced his resignation as leader, but most of the prominent Tories lost their seats. Jeremy Corbyn would soon after, too. He would be replaced by Keir Starmer, who would lead Labour to a landslide victory.

Jo Swinson would stay on as leader, but as a result of the 2021 Scottish Independence Referendum, she would resign. This would be the last election contested by the Scottish Nationalist Party, and Nicola Sturgeon would become President of Scotland after their independence.

The Brexit Party reached out to the DUP, and they would agree to work together, although that would be short of an overall majority. They also reached out to the Conservatives, but many of the remaining MPs were remainers and extremely reluctant. Reportedly on the 19th of September, Michael Gove delivered a speech that would win over most of the Conservatives, warning that the party faced complete annihilation unless they joined a coalition.

Jeremy Corbyn reached out to the Liberal Democrats, who also agreed to work together, and the SNP, which demanded a Scottish Independence Referendum in return. Corbyn refused.

On the 20th of September, 2019, Nigel Farage was summoned to Buckingham Palace and became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, despite only becoming an MP three days earlier.