The United Kingdom is shifting to the centre-left: Labour won a landslide victory in the general election on Thursday, ending 14 years of Conservative rule and opening the doors of Downing Street to their leader Keir Starmer. The results are expected to come in throughout the night but exit polls published at the close of voting leave little doubt about the outcome of this vote that opens a new chapter in the political history of the country. According to these projections by British television, Labour would win 410 seats out of the 650 in the House of Commons.
Although it is slightly less than Tony Blair’s landslide in 1997 (418), it is well ahead of the Conservative Party of outgoing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, disowned by voters with only 131 elected MPs. This is far from the 365 Tory MPs elected five years ago and the worst result for the party since the beginning of the 20th century. The Liberal Democrats (centrists) would be strengthened with 61 MPs, but the surprise of the vote comes mainly from the anti-immigration and anti-system Reform UK party: it would win 13 seats, a much more resounding entry than expected for the party of the hard-right figure Nigel Farage. While the far right is likely to gain power in France and Donald Trump seems well placed to return to the White House, the British overwhelmingly chose a moderate center-left leader.
Keir Starmer, a 61-year-old former human rights lawyer, is to be tasked by King Charles III on Friday with forming a new government. “To everyone who campaigned for Labour in this election, to everyone who voted for us and trusted our new Labour Party, thank you,” Keir Starmer said soberly on X. Just nine years into politics and four years into his leadership of Labour, he will face a considerable appetite for change. As polls predicted throughout the campaign, the Conservatives are being punished after 14 turbulent years that left Britons feeling in decline.
Brexit has torn the country apart and failed to deliver on its supporters’ promises. The price hikes of the last two years have left families impoverished, with more than ever families relying on food banks to feed themselves. People have to wait months for NHS medical appointments. Prisons are at risk of running out of beds in the coming days.
Poker move
In an atmosphere of permanent fratricidal struggles in the majority, the political scandals under Boris Johnson and the budgetary errors of Liz Truss, who only lasted 49 days in power, have finished exasperating the voters. In 20 months in Downing Street, their successor Rishi Sunak has never managed to right the ship in public opinion. He tried a last poker move by calling these elections in July without waiting for the autumn as many thought, but his campaign was disastrous. The 44-year-old former investment banker and finance minister has accumulated blunders and seemed to lack political sense, cutting short his presence at the celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings and delaying in reacting to suspicions of fraudulent betting in his camp on the date of the elections.
Opposite, Keir Starmer highlighted his modest origins – mother a nurse and father a toolmaker – contrasting with his multimillionaire opponent. Not very charismatic but determined, he promises to transform the country as he straightened out Labour, refocusing it on the economic level and fighting against anti-Semitism: methodically, without any show or qualms.