Labor leader Keir Starmer gave a speech at London’s Tate Modern on Friday to celebrate winning the 2024 election.
Ricky Vigil/Getty Images Europe
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Ricky Vigil/Getty Images Europe
LONDON – There has been an earthquake in British politics.
As far-right politics rises across the English Channel in France, Britain has moved in the opposite direction. Official election results on Friday showed a landslide victory for Britain’s centre-left Labor Party, its first in 19 years under Tony Blair.
Incoming Prime Minister Keir Starmer hailed his victory as historic, saying earlier on Friday: “Change starts now.”
“We can look forward again into the morning,” Starmer told supporters before dawn. “The sunshine of hope is pale at first, but becomes stronger and stronger as time goes by.”
For the Conservatives, led by Margaret Thatcher, Boris Johnson and now Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, it was the worst defeat in the party’s nearly 200-year history. Prominent lawmakers including former Prime Ministers Liz Truss, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Penny Mordaunt have lost their seats in the UK Parliament. Sunak retained his seat but resigned as Conservative leader on Friday and apologized to the nation.
“I’m sorry. I have given my all to do this job, but you have sent a clear signal that the UK government must change. “I hear your anger and disappointment and I accept responsibility for this loss. “
Earlier on Friday, Prime Minister and Conservative Party leader Rishi Sunak spoke after retaining his MP for Richmond and Northallerton in Northallerton, northern England.
Tamilade Adelaja/Pool/AFP via Getty Images
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Tamilade Adelaja/Pool/AFP via Getty Images
After 14 years in power, the Conservatives are punished in the polls for all the tumult that occurred during their time in office: Brexit, which most Britons now regret; Partying during the (COVID-19) lockdown and lying about it; Johnson’s successor Liz Truss’ disastrous 2022 budget sent shockwaves through financial markets. Britain now has more children living in poverty than any other rich country, according to the United Nations. Without London, it would be poorer than Mississippi.
The election also upended Britain’s two-party system, with support for smaller parties rising sharply. The environmentalist Greens had their most successful election night ever, winning a record four seats – an increase of one from the previous parliamentary session. The centrist Liberal Democrats increased their representation in parliament.
The far-right, anti-immigration Reform Party will enter parliament for the first time with four seats, one of which is for the party’s leader, Brexiteer Nigel Farage, who has previously stood and lost seven times.
In Scotland, the once dominant Scottish National Party (which had lobbied for Scottish independence from the United Kingdom) was severely beaten, with Labor occupying most of the SNP seats.
In Northern Ireland, the nationalist party Sinn Fein won the most seats and became the region’s largest party in the British parliament. The party wants Northern Ireland to break away from the United Kingdom and join the Republic of Ireland to the south.
It’s not a total sweep for Labour, though. The party lost four former strongholds to independent, pro-Palestinian candidates as anger over the Gaza war led to some shocking losses on an otherwise triumphant night.
