UK general election 2019: Protests despite Boris Johnson call to 'let the healing begin' – as it happened

That’s all from us for this evening. Thanks for reading and commenting. My colleagues, Rowena Mason and Kate Proctor, have tonight’s main story:

And Andrew Sparrow has put together this detailed summary of the events of the last 24 hours. Since he wrote it, the prime minister has begun moves to head off a second Scottish independence referendum. Boris Johnson called the first minister of Scotland to reiterate his opposition to holding such a vote.

13 Dec 201916.13 EST

Molly Blackall

Growing calls for electoral reform after vote share per party is revealed

Green MPs elected in yesterday’s general election represented more than 850,000 votes while SNP MPs represented under 26,000, according to figures from the Electoral Reform Society.

More than 330,000 votes were needed to elect a Liberal Democrat, compared to 50,000 for Labour and 38,000 for Plaid Cymru and Conservative candidates.

Meanwhile, the Brexit Party won more than 642,000 votes but failed to get any representatives in the House of Commons.

Overall, the Electoral Reform Society claims that 45.3% of votes did not get any representation, because of the number of voters who didn’t support the winning candidate.

The figures, which come from analysing the number of votes compared to the number of MPs elected, have led to renewed calls for electoral reform.

Former Green party leader and Brighton Pavilion MP Caroline Lucas used her election victory speech to call for an end to the first past the post voting system, saying she felt “anger that our political system is so badly broken and is still letting down individuals and our country so badly”.

“Our electoral system is rotten to the core,” she said.

Last week, Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage pledged to change the party’s name to the Reform Party after the UK’s departure from the EU, in order to campaign for a proportional voting system.

13 Dec 201915.39 EST

Damien Gayle

After leading police on a cat and mouse chase through Westminster backstreets, breaking through their lines several times, protesters are now contained on Victoria Street, near the department for business.

Police are not currently allowing people out of the cordon. About 150-200 protesters remain in the demonstration.

Met police confirmed that one person has been arrested for criminal damage.

Rory Sherman, 31, from Lewisham, was smoking a cigarette while he waited to see what would happen.

I went along to the protest at Downing Street and I’ve been following the march around. The police started pushing people very early on. I got pushed randomly, and that was just moving along Whitehall.

It’s interesting. I’ve never seen a protest that’s been this not organised before, kind of spontaneous. It’s interesting. It’s a lot of different people with different approaches to it.

Besides the first ministers of Scotland and Wales, Johnson has also spoken to the German chancellor Angela Merkel and the Irish premier Leo Varadkar – two key players in the Brexit talks – this evening. Both leaders congratulated him on his election victory.

With the taoiseach, the prime minister spoke about restoring Stormont and the next steps on Britain’s exit from the European Union. A Downing Street spokesman has said:

In relation to Northern Ireland, the prime minister made clear that his top priority is the restoration of a functioning executive as soon as possible. He said that the secretary of state for Northern Ireland, Julian Smith, will dedicate himself to a talks process to ensure the devolved institutions are restored.

The prime minister updated the taoiseach on the timings for the reintroduction of the withdrawal agreement bill next week and its passage through parliament to ensure the UK leaves the EU on 31 January.

The leaders also spoke about the importance of building on the strong relationship between their two countries and looked forward to meeting again in person soon.

Merkel “spoke about the importance of maintaining the strong relationship between Germany and the UK” during her phone call with the Conservative leader, Number 10 said.

There’s also an anti-Johnson protest going on in Glasgow this evening.

The livestream had earlier showed police with batons drawn at the bottom of Parliament Street, where it meets Parliament Square, striking out at people they warned to “get back or you will get hit”. At least one demonstrator’s face was bloodied during the brief exchange.

13 Dec 201914.56 EST

Damien Gayle

Police clashed again with protesters at the bottom of Parliament Street who were trying to make their way back to Downing Street.

At least one protester appeared to be arrested before the rest turned around and walked the opposite direction.

A couple of hundred demonstrators are now continuing to march around Westminster, chased by police who seem intent on getting in front and blocking their route.

They are now on Great Peter Street, near the Home Office.

The Met police have said they are facilitating the protest at this stage. No arrests have been made and no restrictions have been placed on the demonstration.

13 Dec 201914.39 EST

Damien Gayle

Police and protesters clashed again on Victoria embankment and in Parliament Square. Each time, just a couple of dozen officers tried to block the path of the crowd but were pushed aside.

Some protesters were seized from the crowd by police, with protesters attempting at one point to stage a “de-arrest”.

Police drew batons and scuffled with protesters outside Downing Street after another demonstration of Antifascist Action arrived to join Stand Up to Racism protesters already there.

Hundreds of demonstrators streamed into Parliament Street and surrounded a contingent of officers who attempted to keep the demonstrations apart. Police had batons drawn but did not appear to use them on protesters, who were eventually able to push a way through the police line.

As police melted away, the reinforced joint protest carried on in a march towards Trafalgar Square, followed by police vans.

13 Dec 201914.36 EST

Damien Gayle

A group of young women confronting Boris Johnson supporters have led protesters at Downing Street through a police cordon.

Some Johnson supporters have apparently left the area now, as numbers continue to swell on the anti-Conservative demo outside Downing Street and protesters chanted: “Boris Johnson, not my prime minister.”

But others continue to appear in small groups to goad protesters. Each time, police have led them away. Further toward the back of the demo, Harold Wilson, 56, from Lewisham, said he was disappointed with the result of the election but now he “had his marching boots on.” He said:

I’m crestfallen and I’m pissed off. But this is day one, this is the start; I’m not going to be browbeaten.

Wilson added:

I’m just sick of that pig and everything he stands for ... that’s why I’m here to show that there is opposition to him. He’s just the antithesis for everything I stand for and what good, genuine, ordinary, decent people stand for. But I think they are just being led by another Eton elite that’s played on their vulnerabilities.

Boris Johnson has moved quickly as the SNP attempts to secure a second Scottish independence referendum, calling the party’s leader, Nicola Sturgeon, to tell her to forget it. A Downing Street spokesperson said:

The prime minister spoke to first minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, earlier this evening, where he reiterated his unwavering commitment to strengthening the union.

On Brexit, the prime minister said that he is now in a position to get this done in a way that allows the whole of the UK to move forward together, providing certainty for Scottish businesses and improving the lives of people right across Scotland.

The prime minister made clear how he remained opposed to a second independence referendum, standing with the majority of people in Scotland who do not want to return to division and uncertainty. He added how the result of the 2014 referendum was decisive and should be respected.

Johnson has also spoken to the first minister of Wales, Mark Drakeford. A Downing Street spokesman said:

They talked about their shared commitment to the union and to growth and prosperity for Wales within a strengthened United Kingdom.

The prime minister made clear how the UK is strongest when all four nations unite and all work together to unleash the potential of the entire country.

The prime minister said as we can now get Brexit done, we can provide certainty and security for the people of Wales and the whole of the UK – enabling us to move forward together.”

13 Dec 201913.11 EST

Afternoon summary

Andrew Sparrow

• Boris Johnson has won a resounding, 80-seat majority for the Conservatives, smashing the Labour party, confounding expectations and giving himself for the first time the opportunity to push a legislative programme through parliament. His majority is bigger than David Cameron’s for his coalition government, bigger than Tony Blair’s in his third term and the largest for any Conservative prime minister since Margaret Thatcher. At times during the election Johnson talked about a 10-year agenda for government, and his victory is substantial enough to mean that a decade-long Johnson premiership must now by a possibility. But he remains a deeply divisive figure, his predecessor Theresa May reportedly believes he is “morally unfit” to be PM, and he has reinvented his politics so often in his career that Britons don’t really know at all whether they’ve elected Britain’s Trump, as the US president sees him, or a pro-Brexit version of Michael Heseltine, as Johnson’s allies depict him. Perhaps he doesn’t even know himself.

• Johnson has claimed, with some accuracy, to have redrawn the electoral map of Britain, and he has promised to govern as a one nation party. Just as Ronald Reagan recast US politics by discovering “Reagan Democrats” (previous blue-collar Democrat voters who were attracted by Reagan’s demeanour and social conservatism), Johnson won his majority by taking seats that had been Labour for decades. He has promised to govern in the interests of these new voters. Whether he will or not remains to be seen. And what is also not clear is whether the composition of the parliamentary Conservative party has changed to push the party in this direction. Johnson has given two short speeches today (see here and here), but he has postponed what is expected to be a limited reshuffle until next week.

• The Conservative election victory has killed off any lingering prospect of Brexit being reversed, and the UK is now all but certain to leave the EU on 31 January. Johnson said this morning.

With this mandate and this majority we will at last be able to [get Brexit done] because this election means that getting Brexit done is now the irrefutable, irresistible, unarguable decision of the British people.

And with this election I think we’ve put an end to all those miserable threats of a second referendum.

The People’s Vote campaign has effectively surrendered. In a statement on its behalf, Open Europe, one of the group’s behind the campaign (it recently split), said:

The People’s Vote will now refocus its campaign to concentrate on vital social issues that this government must urgently prioritise in its Brexit negotiations.

• EU leaders have restated their call for the UK to remain aligned to EU standards if it wants a comprehensive trade deal to be negotiated next year. Johnson does want to conclude the trade talks next year, because his manifesto said he would not extend the transition beyond December 2020. But he has also said he wants the UK to be able to diverge from EU standards. This is set to be perhaps the dominant political issue of 2020, and the scale of the challenge Johnson faces suggests that his promise to have got Brexit “done” by 31 January (his central campaign promise) could soon look like a hollow joke. As usual with Johnson, it is impossible to predict what he will do, and there has been some speculation that he will end up betraying his hardline Brexiter supporters in the Tory European Research Group.

• Jeremy Corbyn has accepted that his unlikely but transformational four-year leadership of the Labour party must come to an end, having led the party into its worst defeat (in terms of seats won) in more than 80 years. He suggested today that he would step down early in the new year. What is not clear, though, is whether “Corbynism” will survive him. “On some things he was a generation ahead of his time, but he couldn’t lead, and that’s what voters want, even if it means being lied to.” That is from the American journalist George Packer. Packer was writing about Jimmy Carter (in his book Our Man), but it serves equally well as a charitable assessment of Corbyn.

• None of the potential contenders for the Labour leadership has declared, but the party has already begun an intense and acrimonious inquest into the reasons for its defeat. Corbyn’s supporters are blaming Brexit, while his many critics in the party are saying it was his leadership that was fatal to the party’s chances. Others point out (rightly) that the party’s problems in some areas predated both Brexit and Corbyn.

• Jo Swinson has apologised to the Liberal Democrats for a dismal election in which she lost her seat and the party slipped to 11 MPs, but said she did not regret fighting on a defiantly pro-remain platform. Having lost her seat, she had to stand down as party leader. One of the ironies of today is that the election would never have happened if it had not been for the Lib Dems calling for one, and Corbyn subsequently agreeing. (When the Lib Dems and the SNP both openly called for an early election, it became much harder for Labour to resist,) Without their backing, Johnson would not have been able to legislate to make it happen.
  

• Nicola Sturgeon has said she will publish a blueprint for staging a second Scottish independence referendum next week after challenging Johnson to pass on the legal powers to stage one. The SNP won 48 of the 59 seats in Scotland (up 13) and, with Scotland now facing possibly 10 years of rule from Johnson, pressure for independence may well intensify.

• The Conservatives have had their best result in Wales since the heyday of Margaret Thatcher, even winning in once rock-solid Labour seats such as Wrexham, which has never before returned a Tory MP.

• Pressure is growing on the Democratic Unionist party (DUP) and Sinn Fein to swiftly restore power-sharing after voters punished both parties for Northern Ireland’s political dysfunction.

• A record 220 female MPs will take their seats in parliament after this election, but the House of Commons will still fall far short of being gender balanced. For the first time one of the main parties, Labour, will have more female MPs than male MPs.

That’s all from us for tonight.

Thanks for the comments.

13 Dec 201913.04 EST

Richard Adams

The election may have changed the political landscape, but the educational profile of the House of Commons is relatively unchanged, research from the Sutton Trust has revealed: 29% of MPs are independently educated, compared with 7% of the British population. This is the same as after the 2017 general election. More than half (54%) of the new House of Commons went to a comprehensive school, up slightly from 52% after the 2017 election.

The research suggests the educational backgrounds of members of the Commons is widening, albeit slowly. Of 155 newly elected MPs, 62% were educated at comprehensive schools, while a further 22% went to independent schools and 14% were educated at grammar schools.

Of the major parties, comprehensive schools were attended by 41% of Conservative MPs and 70% of Labour MPs; 16% of all MPs attended a grammar school, in comparison with 17% of the MPs elected in 2017.

Of the 173 MPs who went to independent schools, 11 went to Eton, including Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg.

Oxford and Cambridge universities have educated 21% of MPs, while a further 33% attended another Russell Group university. In recent years, there have been a growing number of MPs from a group of non-Russell Group universities such as Hull, Brunel, Sussex and Aberdeen, with 10, eight, seven and five MPs respectively.

13 Dec 201912.42 EST

Damien Gayle

There were confrontations between rightwing supporters of Boris Johnson and leftwing protesters outside Downing Street taking place just after 5pm.

A small group of pro-Tory supporters gathered outside the gates of Downing Street chanting the name of Tommy Robinson and “never trust a leftie with your kids”, as they celebrated the election result.

On the other side of Parliament Street, several hundred counter-protesters stood holding placards saying “migrants and refugees welcome here” and chanting: “Racist scum, off our streets.”

Several dozen police stood at the scene.

Outside Downing Street, Derek Marshall, 60, from Hampshire, hailed the result, adding that he was “pleased that the British people weren’t fooled by the communist opposition in parliament”.

But, he added:

I do worry that Boris won’t deliver a full Brexit. This deal that he’s got at the moment is leave in name only, and if he does that, this movement will just grow and grow and grow. The Brexit movement is now – if we are thwarted again – ready to expand, to rebel. We have been patient long enough.

Lord Ashcroft, the former Conservative deputy chair who is now a polling specialist, has published some useful polling looking at what motivated different people to vote in different ways yesterday. It includes this chart.

View image in fullscreen

Here is a video of Boris Johnson’s No 10 speech.

4:38

The Labour MP Wes Streeting told Sky News that the party leadership had to start listening to the concerns of voters.

If this election were just about hard work and sheer footwork on the ground, the Labour party would have won a landslide majority. Labour activists could not have worked harder. This defeat wasn’t theirs. I believe in party democracy. And I believe Labour members have just as big a responsibility to listen to the voters as me.

And what I would say to Jeremy Corbyn and his apologists is they had everything they wanted at this election. They had the leader they wanted, the NEC [national executive committee] they wanted, the political strategy they wanted and, having sacked a load of people in head office, the executive leadership that they wanted too.

The one thing they didn’t have was the support of the British people. You can sideline Labour MPs, you can sack the staff, you can deselect the NEC and all the rest of it, but you can’t deselect the voters, and it’s time we started listening to Labour voters. Because right across the country, in leave seats like mine, in remain seats, Labour’s vote share went down.

Streeting also said the party needed to do more than just replace the leader. It needed more credible policies on the economy and on defence, he argued, and he said the culture of the party needed to change, in relation to antisemitism and hostility towards opponents generally.

The Muslim Council of Britain has issued a statement saying there is “a palpable sense of fear amongst Muslim communities” after Johnson’s election victory. This is from Harun Khan, the MCB’s secretary general:

Mr Johnson commands a majority, but there is a palpable sense of fear amongst Muslim communities around the country. We entered the election campaign period with longstanding concerns about bigotry in our politics and our governing party. Now we worry that Islamophobia is “oven-ready” for government. Mr Johnson has been entrusted with huge power, and we pray it is exercised responsibly for all Britons.

We understand that the prime minister insists that he is a one nation Tory. We earnestly hope that is the case and urge him to lead from the centre and engage with all communities.