Prime Minister David Cameron enjoyed a surprise triumph in the British election Friday as his Conservative Party appeared poised to win a narrow outright victory over a faltering opposition.
The result removed a fog of uncertainty but leaves Britain facing two constitutional crises: a potentially damaging referendum on whether to quit the European Union, and renewed pressure from Scottish nationalists who want to leave the 300-year-old United Kingdom.
The opposition Labour Party took a beating, with its main campaign strategist among those voted out.
Shares in U.K. financial institutions jumped in early trading Friday as the threat of Labour’s proposed tax hikes on banks receded.
The energized Scottish National Party pulled off a landslide, taking 56 of the 59 seats in Scotland and setting a string of electoral records.
With 621 out of 650 results counted, the Conservatives had 313 House of Commons seats — just 13 short of the majority it needs to govern.
It would pass that milestone with a majority of three.
The result was far better for Cameron than opinion pollsters, or even his own party, had foreseen. He was beaming early Friday as he was re-elected in his constituency in England’s rural Oxfordshire.
“This is clearly a very strong night for the Conservative Party,” he said.
“I want my party, and I hope a government that I would like to lead, to reclaim a mantle that we should never have lost — the mantle of one nation, one United Kingdom,” Cameron said, vowing to counter the rise of nationalism with more powers for Scotland and Wales.
As late as Wednesday, polls had put the result on a knife-edge — but as many as one in four voters said they were still undecided up to the last minute, unsure whether to endorse Cameron’s recipe for economic recovery and austerity.
Labour Party leader Ed Miliband said it had been “a very disappointing and difficult night,” adding: “In Scotland we have seen a surge of nationalism overcome our party. He would resign later Friday.
Cameron’s coalition partner since 2010, the center-left Liberal Democrats, faced an even worse disaster — losing all but a handful of their seats after supporting a right-wing agenda since 2010.
“It is now painfully clear that this has been a cruel and punishing night for the Liberal Democrats,” said leader Nick Clegg, who held onto his own seat.
The anti-immigration, anti-Europe UK Independence Party was projected to win two seats.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
