There is no doubt the Tories won the election in total seat numbers, but as a measure of the direction of travel, seats alone are not enough. You need also to look at the votes and especially the increase in votes. Here are some figures for you to compare. The Tories lost 13 seats, gained 2.3 million votes and increased their vote share by 5.5%. Labour gained 30 seats, added 3.5 million votes and upped their share by 9.8%. Labour clearly has the more impressive advance.
The total votes polled by the Tories in 2017 was 13,667,213. Labour scored 12,874,985. The Tories clearly achieved the most votes but the margin is not great, well below 1 million. Labour’s total looks even more impressive when compared to the 8.6 million of Gordon Brown in 2010.
An alliance between Tories and the DUP would account for 13,959,529 million votes. A Progressive Alliance comprising Labour, SNP, Lib Dems, Plaid Cymru and Greens would total 16,914,113 million. That is nearly 3 million more than the Tory alliance. Remember that figure. It may become critical over the next few days. When the Corbyn team talk of forming a government they have clearly looked at those figures too. Moreover their partners would be similar in outlook and decent. The DUP are anathema to everybody except the delusional May.