Election polls guru John Curtice says Boris could be caught by Labour with huge opportunit | UK | News

Boris Johnson has addressed the nation outside Downing Street after his landslide election victory. The Prime Minister said it was time for the country to go through a period of “closure” having been marred by Brexit divisions, adding it was time "to let the healing begin”.

LONDON - Prime Minister Boris Johnson appears to have won a sweeping, decisive and powerful majority of parliamentary seats - and a mandate to deliver Brexit - in Thursday's election, according to the respected national exit poll and partial vote results.
The Conservative Party was forecast to win 368 spots in a 650-seat Parliament, according to the exit poll, giving Johnson and his Tory lawmakers firm control of the House of Commons.
Ballots tallied through the night affirmed that Johnson and his Conservative Party had achieved a smashing success, the largest win for the Tories since the days of Margaret Thatcher - while the opposition Labour Party and its hard-left leader, Jeremy Corbyn, suffered their worst defeat in four decades.
After being re-elected to his Uxbridge seat, Johnson said Conservatives had been "given a powerful new mandate to get Brexit done, and not just to get Brexit done, but to unite this country."
Corbyn, after winning in his own Islington constituency, announced he would not lead his party in any future general-election campaign but he intended to stay on as leader during a period of reflection.
"This is obviously a very disappointing night for the Labour Party," he said.
He defended the popularity's of the party's platform, which sought to "right the wrongs and the injustices and inequalities that exist in this country." And he attributed the party's losses to the notion that "Brexit has so polarized and divided debate within this country, it has overridden so much of a normal political debate."
Johnson - the bombastic showman who led the campaign to leave the European Union in the June 2016 referendum - is now positioned to be the prime minister to see Britain set sail from Europe next month.
And dreams of a second referendum

The decisive Conservative victory in Britain leaves no doubt that economic integration has ceased to be a global organizing principle.

After Jo Swinson failed to hold her East Dunbartonshire seat, former deputy leader Sir Ed Davey and Baroness Sal Brinton will become the Liberal Democrats’ joint acting leaders.

Under the party’s constitution, the leader must be an MP – so Ms Swinson ceased to be leader when she lost her seat. A leadership election will take place in the new year, the party said.

Here is a look at who could be in the race to replace Ms Swinson permanently.

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The Labour leader's decision comes as the party faces its worst election performance for years.