Keir Starmer, leader of the Labour Party, will be the next British Prime Minister after a clear and overwhelming victory in the elections. Rishi Sunak, the outgoing prime minister and leader of the Conservative Party, has publicly admitted defeat, saying he had already congratulated his rival. The counting of votes is still ongoing. According to the latest BBC projections, the Conservatives could end up with just 144 MPs, the lowest number in their entire political history. Labour, on the other hand, returns to power after 14 years and with an overwhelming majority. The threshold of 326 seats, needed to obtain a majority in the House of Commons, has already been passed. “A mandate like this comes with a great responsibility,” Starmer told supporters at a triumphant dawn rally in London, moments after the results were announced. Starmer is on the verge of taking power with a majority of around 170 seats, again according to the latest BBC projections, which gives Labour 410 seats. In a speech at the party’s Holborn and St Pancras headquarters, the Labour leader said British people had voted for change and that now was “the time to act”.
Sunak has said he will make a full statement on the defeat when he returns to London during the day. He did not say whether he intended to remain at the helm of the party. Tory leaders who have already lost their seats include senior members of the outgoing government, including Penny Mordaunt, the leader of the House of Commons, Alex Chalk, the justice secretary, Grant Shapps, the defence secretary, Gillian Keegan, the education secretary, and the leader of the group, Simon Hart. After a close contest, Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor of the exchequer, narrowly retained his seat.
It wasn’t a particularly good night for John Swinney, leader of the SNP (independence party) and Scottish First Minister either.who admitted that his party had “a bad election”. In the previous round of voting, the SNP had won 48 seats, but the BBC predicts that by the end of the evening it will have fewer than ten. The centrist Liberal Democrats, on the other hand, can be satisfied given that they are about to obtain their best electoral result in a century. In the last election they won 11 seats, now the projections give them 58. Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform UK, said that his party is making progress towards its goal of replacing the Tories as the main opposition party. Farage won in Clacton and his party won at least three more seats. According to the latest projections from the BBC, the party will not get more than that. The first exit polls predicted a double-digit number which would have been much more impactful. However, the figure remains that Reform UK comes second in many seats behind Labour and ahead of the Conservatives. Green co-leader Carla Denyer beat Labour to win Bristol Central. The BBC projects the Greens will win two seats. Plaid Cymru is on track to win four. A seat in Parliament will go to the sole independent winner, former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.