Tories win landslide majority in 'disappointing' election for Labour

The Tory party has won 361 seats so far, with 645 seats counted so far this morning, a 47 seat increase. They are forecast to have a total of 364 seats when all results are counted.

Labour, meanwhile, lost 59 seats to end up with 203, in what leader Jeremy Corbyn has called a "very disappointing night" for his party. He has already said he will not lead Labour into the next general election. 

The Liberal Democrats only won 11 seats, with leader Jo Swinson losing her seat in East Dunbartonshire, but in Scotland the SNP advanced strongly, gathering 13 extra seats to end up with 48 in total.

Speaking to his party staff following the landslide win, PM Boris Johnson said: "We must understand now what an earthquake we have created. The way in which we have changed the political map of this country. We have to grapple with the consequences of that, we have to change our own party to rise to the level of events."

The markets will welcome the certainty of the election results. The election campaign saw the pound sterling and the FTSE 100 index fluctuate as changing poll results kept the country on edge as to the outcome of the decisive vote.

Investors' confidence was lifted by polls predicting a comfortable majority for the incumbent Conservative government, only to be thwarted once again the day before the election as the latest results suggested the fight would be much closer than originally expected.

Brexit focus

Unlike the more leftist parties, the Conservatives did not issue a particularly revolutionary manifesto in the run-up to the General Election, focusing their energies on the key question facing the nation: Brexit.

In November, Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged to "get Brexit done". Having won the election, their next step on Brexit would be to bring the Withdrawal Agreement Bill back to Parliament, expected to be brought before MPs next Friday (20 December), in an effort to avoid another extension of the Brexit deadline of 31 January 2020.

Once the UK leaves the bloc, the Conservatives have ruled out any extension to the transition period beyond the current deadline of 31 December 2020. They have also promised the UK will be outside the EU single market and any form of customs union following departure.

Tory manifesto

On issues of pensions and tax, the Tory government is much more favourable towards higher earners than a Labour-led government would have been.

The Conservatives have committed to not raising income tax, national insurance or VAT, which is a "very bold claim", according to Hargreaves Lansdown's head of retirement policy Tom McPhail, given these account for around two thirds of all government tax revenue.

The other big plan is to raise the national insurance threshold to £9,500, which would give 31 million workers round £100 extra a year, with the potential for this to go up to £12,500 over the long term. The Tories also intend to raise the minimum wage to £10.50 an hour.

Another significant announcements from an investor's perspective is the Conservatives' plan to scrap the proposed cut in the corporation tax, keeping this at 19%. This would raise an additional £20.5bn in tax over the next four years, while denting dividend potential for UK plc.

The manifesto is missing a lot of detail on other areas of personal taxation, such as capital gains and inheritance taxes, as well as pension taxation and auto-enrolment.

On pensions, the Conservatives, like all of their rivals, have committed to the triple lock. This means the state pension will increase every year by the highest of inflation, earnings growth and 2.5%.

The Tories have also said they will review the Annual Allowance Taper, which restricts pensions contributions; bring back the Pensions Bill; and review pension tax rules which are making lower earners miss out on government tax relief.

But where they differ significantly from all the other political parties is on their treatment of Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI), being the only party that has repeatedly said they won't pay them any compensation for past losses as a result of the decision to raise the pension age for women from 60 to 65.

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