According to an official exit poll, the center-left Labour Party scored a landslide win in the UK Election 2024 on Thursday. The victory dealt a crushing loss to the governing Conservative Party after 14 years in office.
The Larger Picture: Incumbents are losing races worldwide, notably in Europe, where inflation has spread voter anger. In Britain, however, the Conservatives’ approaching defeat is mainly their own doing.
According to the British networks’ exit poll, Labour gained 410 seats in Parliament, giving them a 170-seat majority.
- The Conservatives expected to win only 131 seats, a significant decrease from Boris Johnson’s triumph in 2019.
- The moderate Liberal Democrats expected to gain 61 seats, while Nigel Farage’s right-wing populist Reform Party is forecast to win 13.
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What to Watch: Keir Starmer, the Labour Party’s leader, will become the country’s next prime minister.
What they are saying: After gaining his House of Parliament seat in London’s Holborn and St Pancras, Starmer stated, “People here and around the entire nation have spoken, and they are ready for change.”
- He stated, “The change begins here … it is now the moment for us to deliver.”
Flashback: The Conservative Party has had five prime ministers through the 2016 Brexit referendum, and three since 2022.
- Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, has spent the last 20 months working to repair the damage caused by his predecessors’ actions. Liz Truss alarmed the markets with her tax-cutting budget, while Boris Johnson was ousted due to a series of scandals.
- David called for and lost the 2016 Brexit vote before that. The Brexit vote compromised the country’s future and paved the way for Donald Trump’s victory in the United States.
- Theresa May, Cameron’s successor, resigned in 2019 after Parliament repeatedly rejected her planned divorce agreement with the EU.
Zoom In: The epidemic and Brexit wreak damage on the economy, destroying state budgets. Regardless of their platforms, neither side will have much money to play with.
- Rishi Sunak claimed that Labour would put at risk the economy’s recovery, which is only beginning.
- Voters did not appear to buy it, in part because Labour is likewise pushing for budgetary discipline and moderation.
Starmer, a former prosecutor and human rights lawyer, led the Labour Party back toward the center. He succeeded left-winger Jeremy Corbyn as party leader in 2020.
- His opponents claim he lacks direction and personality. His supporters argue that his unchanging, realistic manner is exactly what the country needs after a lengthy political circus under Johnson and his predecessors.
- Starmer’s platform lacks eye-catching suggestions. He believes his first aim is to provide the groundwork for long-term economic prosperity.
The Interest: Rishi Sunak tweeted two days before the UK Election 2024, “Stop the supermajority,” indicating his low expectations. Vote Republican on July 4th.
The simple conclusion is that after the UK Election five years ago, the Conservatives were full of confidence, while Labour was lost in the political wilderness. On July 4, the positions were formally reversed.
