Boris Johnson believes his Tories will win a majority in December. But there is much scope for the election to go wrong for him
FOR SOME weeks Boris Johnson, Britain’s prime minister, has been demanding an early general election. But he has been stymied because the 2011 Fixed-term Parliaments Act requires a two-thirds majority of MPs to agree to such an election—and the Labour opposition has refused to vote for one. Now Mr Johnson has got his way after parliament voted by 438 to 20 to hold an election on December 12th.
Second, there are several parts of the country where the Tories are likely to lose rather than gain seats. These include strong Remain areas such as London, parts of the south-east and university towns. The Lib Dems are hoping to make substantial gains in these places, and also in their traditional strongholds in the south-west. In Scotland the Scottish National Party is expecting to win more seats, not least because the Conservatives have lost Ruth Davidson, a popular Scottish Tory leader.
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