Will Jeremy Corbyn become Prime Minister after General Election shock?

Jeremy Corbyn: New leader?
Jeremy Selwyn
Mark Chandler9 June 2017
WEST END FINAL

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With a Labour surge in the General Election under his leadership, could Jeremy Corbyn do what looked unthinkable before the campaign and become the next Prime Minister?

By 5.30am, his party had amassed 252 seats, with projections putting Labour on 262 for the night.

That was well below the prediction of 318 for the Tories and well short of the 326 needed for an outright majority, meaning the Conservatives are likely to seek to form a minority government.

Speaking after holding his Islington North seat, Mr Corbyn called on Theresa May to resign, saying she should "go and make way for a government that is truly representative of this country".

However, to become the next Prime Minister, he would have to cobble together a coalition with the SNP, Lib Dems, Greens and Welsh nationalists.

On current predictions, that would give the coalition around 314 seats, still short of an overall majority and below what the Tories have on their own.

In any case, during the campaign, Mr Corybn ruled out forming a coalition.

Lib Dem president Baroness Brinton also claimed her own party could not work with either Labour or the Tories because both were going for a hard Brexit.

She told Sky News: "A coalition is not on the cards, not just because of the 2015 result but because of big policy differences."

Labour had mentioned, however, the possibility of forming a minority government, propped up by other parties on a vote-by-vote basis.

As the results came in overnight, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said: “We will form a government at the first opportunity.

"Whenever we get the opportunity we will do, if it's a minority government we will. But we don't know the results of this election yet.

"We are extremely cautious, let's see what the results are."

A third possibility could see a re-run of the election, something the Tories would be keen to avoid at all costs.

If it did take place, Labour could hope to capitalise on its surge for an outright win - an outcome that still seems incredibly optimistic.

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