Keir Starmer to be prime minister as Labour wins UK election in landslide

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Keir Starmer will sweep into Downing Street as Britain’s new prime minister on Friday after his Labour Party won a landslide majority to end 14 years of Conservative rule.

Rishi Sunak will tender his resignation at Buckingham Palace as the Conservatives head for the biggest defeat in their nearly 200-year history, paying the price for years of political and economic strife.

King Charles III will then appoint Mr Starmer, a 61-year-old former lawyer promising economic renewal and a British re-engagement with the world, as the UK’s seventh Labour prime minister and its first since 2010.

Labour crossed the threshold of 326 seats needed for a majority shortly before 5am UK time, as count after count showed Mr Starmer’s party making historic gains in once-solid Tory strongholds.

“Change begins now,” Mr Starmer told cheering supporters at daybreak.

Projections say Labour will have about 410 seats once all results are counted, with the Conservatives on about 130 – giving Mr Starmer a resounding margin of victory similar to that achieved by Tony Blair in 1997.

But Labour also suffered setbacks, with pro-Palestinian independents claiming several shock victories. Results suggested a revolt against Mr Starmer in areas with a high Muslim population, which are traditionally loyal to Labour.

The Labour landslide comes just five years after the Conservatives won an 80-seat majority, a turnaround reflecting both prolonged political and economic malaise and Mr Starmer’s efforts to reposition his party in the political centre ground.

“We ran as a changed Labour Party and we will govern as a changed Labour Party,” said Mr Starmer, who will give a first speech in Downing Street later on Friday before he begins appointing his cabinet.

Mr Sunak is widely expected to stand down as Conservative leader as the party heads for fewer seats than its previous low points of 1906, 1945 and 1997, in a brutal verdict on 14 years in power under five different prime ministers.

Conceding defeat moments before Labour’s majority was confirmed, Mr Sunak said he had called Mr Starmer to congratulate him.

“The British people have delivered a sobering verdict tonight,” Mr Sunak said after he was re-elected as MP for Richmond and Northallerton, in North Yorkshire.

He said he had “given my all” in his 19-month spell as the UK’s first British Asian prime minister.

Cabinet ministers Grant Shapps and Penny Mordaunt were among several senior Conservatives to lose their seats, while Chancellor Jeremy Hunt narrowly survived.

Scores of Conservative seats flipped to Labour, although the result was slightly less lopsided than some of the most startling forecasts had predicted. The Liberal Democrats were in third with a projected 61 seats.

The right-wing Reform UK won its first seats at a general election, with party leader Nigel Farage elected in Clacton-on-Sea.

There were stark shifts around the country, with Labour regaining its once rock-solid place as the largest party in Scotland. The Scottish National Party was projected to fall from 48 seats to just 10.

Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn won his north London seat as an independent after being exiled by Mr Starmer.

Britain goes to the polls – in pictures

For the Conservatives, the results show a collapse of the broad north-south voter base that backed the party in 2019, when Boris Johnson won an 80-seat majority in a result that seemed set to reshape British politics.

The Covid-19 pandemic and related ethics scandals derailed Mr Johnson’s government, ultimately leading to his removal by Conservative MPs in 2022. His successor, Liz Truss, lasted just 49 days after her right-wing economic policies disastrously backfired.

Sunak heads for exit

Mr Sunak came to office promising economic stability and a focus on bread-and-butter voter priorities but polls have consistently showed an appetite for change after 14 years under five different Conservative prime ministers.

After months of speculation he announced the election in May, hoping to benefit from falling inflation and promising a tough stance on immigration with asylum seekers to be deported to Rwanda.

However, the Conservative campaign was beset by unforced errors such as Mr Sunak’s early departure from D-Day commemoration and a scandal over aides betting on the election date, with Tory support undermined by Reform UK.

“Much of the damage to the Conservative Party tonight is being done by Reform, even if it is the Labour Party that proves to be the beneficiary,” Britain’s pre-eminent elections expert John Curtice told the BBC’s election coverage.

By the end of the campaign Mr Sunak had more or less conceded defeat by urging voters to prevent a Labour “super majority”.

Labour’s campaign offered a long-term focus on the economy, health, crime, clean energy and equality, with specific pledges including a new state energy company and a border command with counter terror-style powers to stop people smuggling.

Mr Starmer’s critics say he lacks charisma or visionary policies, with Labour challenged in many seats by leftist independents as well as pro-Palestinian candidates critical of the party’s stance on Gaza.

But the result marks “an extraordinary achievement for Keir Starmer and his team … in 2019, nobody could have imagined that this was possible”, said former Labour MP Peter Mandelson, an architect of Mr Blair’s 1997 landslide.

The handover of power will see Mr Starmer briefed on national security and intelligence matters before he signs “letters of last resort” to commanders of Britain’s nuclear missile submarines.

It is expected he will begin appointing his cabinet on Friday, with Rachel Reeves poised to become the UK’s first female chancellor. David Lammy is in line for the Foreign Office after handling international affairs in opposition.

Mr Starmer’s debut on the international stage could come next week at a Nato summit in Washington. On July 18, he will host European leaders at a 47-nation summit at Blenheim Palace – the birthplace of Winston Churchill.

Updated: July 05, 2024, 5:27 AM