No winners in election – yet these are times crying out for leadership

EUROPEAN journalists – like many in the UK – reached for the simplest metaphors yesterday for Theresa May’s June gambit. 

But there was an edge to their coverage: Britain’s decision to leave the EU has left the Prime Minister with few friends on the continent. 

A commentator for Rome’s left-leaning La Repubblica said Britain had been “unrelentingly spiralling” since Brexit and the General Election weakened the country in the face of negotiations with the EU. Corriere della Sera was blunter: Mrs May had been undone. She was no Margaret Thatcher.

Paris’s Le Monde spared no contempt for her. She had suffered a “cruel spring”, the paper said in its editorial. The result of the vote was “confused and hesitant”, it said, just like Britain’s position on the EU. 

Spain’s El Pais was also scathing about the PM. In its editorial entitled “The defeat of Theresa May”, the respected daily said her “insufficient victory leaves a worrying question mark”. The paper said: “If  May brought forward the election, as she insisted repeatedly, to secure a clear electoral backing in the face of the UK’s crucial Brexit negotiations, then the results she obtained were the diametric opposite.” 

In Germany, Frankfurter Allgemeine said Mrs May had had a “disaster”, rival Suddeutsche Zeitung asked if her “time was up” as Prime Minister and Der Spiegel called her the Egg Lady, not the
iron one. 

Across Europe there was Schadenfreude over the fate of Mrs May, who has come to embody Brexit. Nicola Sturgeon, meanwhile, had been the darling of the continent’s press. But that did not stop the bad headlines after the SNP lost a third of its seats, especially in Spain where Catalonia has just announced its first independence referendum against the will of the arch-unionist government in Madrid. 

Right-wing title ABC said Ms Sturgeon had suffered a “heavy collapse” while most papers, giving far less prominence to the SNP than in previous years, referred to “blows”. Especially in Spain, there was talk of a second independence referendum now looking less likely.

Latest surprise is pleasant for Scottish Tories but leaves doubts hanging over SNP - by Neil McGarvey

THIS election has been another surprise in a long line of surprises in the past year or two. 

And it was a great result for the Scottish Conservatives. – a handful of seats had been predicted but they went up to 13 against a UK background where they are in retreat. These extra 12 seats have been critical in the context of the national picture.

The Scottish Conservatives have the constitutional issue on their side but may also have benefited those of a small “c” conservative bent who do not feel comfortable with the leftist politics of Jeremy Corbyn. Some voters will have found a natural home and that might explain their advance over a longer term.

There is always an issue in Scotland about where the people of a right-wing slant go to electorally. This has been the first time in three decades where they have been visible. There has also been the bizarre situation around the Corbyn effect in Scotland, in large part driven by young people who a year ago would have voted SNP. They are not voting Labour to say no to an independence referendum, they are voting for Mr Corbyn. 

The grip of Momentum may be strengthened and this may filter through to Scotland, with a renewed prominence for politicians such as Neil Findlay.

As for the LibDems, they were insignificant before the election but are a bit more significant now, moving back into the suburban or rural seats where they have been strong before. 

The SNP? It’s hard to say beyond this was a  bad night. In historic terms 2015 was atypical, a hangover from the referendum. This is Scotland going back to some sort of normal politics where the momentum of the referendum has been shaken off. The future looks a lot less certain and predictable for the SNP than just six months ago.

Dr Neil McGarvey, a senior teaching fellow in politics at the University of Strathclyde.