Prime minister David Cameron's Conservatives swept to victory in the 7 May general elections, winning 323 seats (out of 650). Junior coalition partners the Liberal Democrats suffered a major defeat, losing 46 seats. Labour leader Ed Miliband is set to resign after his party lost 26 seats, including all but one of its Scottish seats to the Scottish National Party. The Scottish nationalists have wiped out the once dominant Labour party in Scotland, winning 57 out of 59 constituencies. Anti-EU UKIP obtained one seat.

According to EUobserver,

the scale of the Conservative victory increases the likelihood that the UK will hold an ‘in/out’ referendum on EU membership in 2017. Cameron had promised to re-negotiate the UK’s membership terms followed by a vote, and will now have a free hand to begin talks with Brussels.

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