German SPD leader describes British election results as “catastrophic defeat” for UK PM

BERLIN, June 9 (Xinhua) — The leader of the German Social Democratic Party (SPD) Martin Schulz has described the failure of conservative Prime Minister Theresa May to defend her party’s outright majority in the British parliamentary election as a “catastrophic defeat” on Friday.

At the same time, he praised the leader of the opposition Labour party Jeremy Corbyn for his unexpectedly strong performance which resulted in a hung parliament (in which no party has sufficient members of parliament to govern on its own).

Schulz stated on Twitter that he had already spoken to Corbyn on the phone and scheduled a brief meeting.

The German politician further echoed arguments made by Labour during their campaign by accusing Theresa May of being responsible for cutting thousands of jobs in the British police force as Home Secretary and said the British Prime Minister had “disqualified herself” by recently stating that human rights must be curtailed to combat terrorism.

Concerning the impact of the British electoral result on the upcoming “Brexit” negotiations, Schulz voiced the hope that the United Kingdom would depart from the hard line adopted by the last Conservative government.

“Even if the United Kingdom leaves the European Union, we need cooperation instead of confrontation. After all, Britain will always remain a part of Europe,” he said.