General Election: Corbyn '˜would be PM if not for Scotland'

According to an article by the London Evening Standard, the Labour leader was thwarted in his attempt to become Prime Minister by the strong performance of the Conservative Party in Scotland.

May secured a return to Number 10 despite a dire election night which saw her party’s presence in Westminster drop from 331 seats to 318, with the number of Labour MPs increasing by 32 seats to 262.

This result means the Conservatives failed to win a majority and are now looking to broker a controversial deal with Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party in order to gain enough seats.

Sturgeon would explore '˜progressive alliance' with Labour

Published earlier today by the London Evening Standard, a newspaper edited by former Tory chancellor George Osborne, the article argues that without the 14 seats secured by the Conservative Party in Scotland, Theresa May would not have been in a strong enough position to form a government at all.

In the 2015 General Election the Scottish National Party won an incredible 56 out of 59 available seats in Scotland, but a reversal of fortunes on Thursday night saw that whittled down to 35 with the Conservative Party benefitting the most.

Former SNP leader Alex Salmond and the party’s Westminster leader Angus Robertson were among the high profile casualties as the party dropped from 50 per cent of the popular vote to 37 per cent.

If not for the extra seats won by Scottish Tories, the Labour Party could have formed a coalition and would now be in control of Westminster, according to the Evening Standard:

“Without the 14 seats won by the Scottish Conservatives, Mrs May’s party would have been languishing on just 305 seats.

“Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the SNP, who are likely to have mopped up the votes between them, would have outnumbered the Tories and are likely to have defeated the PM in a Queen’s Speech vote, paving the way for a coalition led by Mr Corbyn.”

However, just three weeks ago Corbyn had insisted that in the event of a hung parliament he would not do a deal with the SNP to gain power at Westminster.

Speaking on 29 May, Mr Corbyn said: “There will be no deals. There will be no alliance. We’re fighting this election to win.

“Only Labour or the Tories can win this election and voting Labour is the only way to remove Theresa May from office and build a Scotland for the many, not the few.”

SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon had previously claimed that she would be in favour of a ‘progressive alliance’ with Labour.