U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said his party’s win, its biggest since 1987, represented “a huge, great, stonking mandate” to “get Brexit done.” The British pound and London’s FTSE 100 both surged on the result, the latter driven by gains for homebuilders, utilities and banks. (Financial Times, The Guardian)

Talking point: Britain has until January 31 to negotiate an orderly exit from the EU, or face a “hard” Brexit, a departure without an agreement on things like membership in the single market. The next step will be to negotiate a trade deal with the bloc, and deals with other potential partners. Canada is not one of the 50-odd countries with which the U.K. has signed “continuity” deals, guaranteeing it the same favoured trading status post-Brexit it enjoyed as part of the EU. For the roughly 600 Canadian businesses currently operating in the U.K., the election at last offers some clarity on the future. For the world at large, it is a decisive blow against the economic integration that has characterized the post-war period.