Yahoo News U.K. Elections: Labour Claims Historic Landslide Victory
The Labour Party has won a historic landslide victory at the 2024 U.K. general election, defeating the ruling Conservative Party.
The transfer of power in the U.K. is brisk, and the Labour leader Keir Starmer is now set to become the 58th prime minister, after he visits King Charles at Buckingham Palace on Friday. After tendering his resignation to the King, it is widely expected that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will also step down as leader of the Conservatives.
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Starmer, speaking after winning his own seat in north London, said the British public had “spoken, and they’re ready for change, to end the politics of performance.”
He added: “The change begins right here. Because this is your democracy, your community and your future. You have voted. It is now time for us to deliver.”
In his concession speech, Sunak said, “Today, power will change hands in a peaceful and orderly manner, with goodwill on all sides. That is something that should give us all confidence in our country’s stability and future. The British people have delivered a sobering verdict tonight, there is much to learn… and I take responsibility for the loss.”
The British public went to the polls on July 4. Just before 5 a.m. London time, Labour reached the 326 seat threshold for all the major news networks to call the election in their favor. But the victory, and a large one at that, was more or less assured when historically reliable exit polling data on the evening of July 4 suggested that Labour was heading towards a resounding win.
The Conservatives, who themselves won a huge victory at the 2019 general election, saw a collapse in support over the last 14 scandal-plagued years in power as it dealt poorly with the COVID-19 pandemic, delivered austerity and a catastrophic Brexit, offered divisive and vote-losing culture war politics and its policies failed to deal with shocking rises in poverty and inequality.
On an odd election night, there were plenty of shocks, even if the overall result was widely expected. Among the surprise losses for the Tories, the party saw 11 ministers of state lose their seats (in the British parliamentary system, cabinet secretaries must be elected). The Tories also lost several safe historically seats that were at one point held by former prime ministers, including those seats once held by Margaret Thatcher, David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson.
In one of the most dramatic moments of the vote reveal, Liz Truss also lost her seat. The former Tory prime minister infamously had a calamitous 49 days in power in 2022 that almost tanked the entire U.K. economy. The loss means that Truss becomes the first former prime minister to lose their seat in over 100 years.
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