UK General Elections 2024

The election resulted in the end of 14 years of Conservative Government

As the results of the UK General Election poured in from around Britain, Keir Starmer and his renewed Labour Party won the election by a landslide. The election resulted in the end of 14 years of Conservative Government. The country has seen the ruling party’s five different Prime Ministers running the country. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak acknowledged defeat to the opposition Labour Party as voters in the UK general election delivered a harsh verdict on 14 years of Conservative dominance. 

In the ruling party’s victory speech the leader promised national renewal and that they will always serve the country first and the party second. Party leader Keir Starmer celebrated the victory in front of supporters at the Tate Modern art gallery in London. “Change begins now. It feels good, I have to be honest,” he said. 

The outgoing PM, Rishi Sunak, conceded and acknowledged the opposition party’s win. He further congratulated the party and made a phone call to Sir Keir. He accepted full responsibility for the severe defeat. “I am sorry,” Sunak remarked after becoming one of the few Conservatives to keep their seats.

“The British people have delivered a sobering verdict tonight. There is much to learn and reflect on, and I take responsibility for the loss,” he said.

This was a mood election more than a policy election, with voters expressing their dissatisfaction with the ruling Conservatives and a readiness to take a chance on a “changed Labour Party,” as Starmer describes it, stripped of its hard-left members and socialist language.

One of the exit polls made a prediction that the Labour party would win 410 seats, Conservatives will have 144 on their account. This was a rejection of the ruling party by Britain’s electorate that had been anticipated for months. The Lib Dems were placed with 58 seats. Reform, a successor to the Brexit Party, was demoted from an earlier projection of 13 seats to four.

The British House of Commons has 650 MPs, or members of parliament. Each of them represents a distinct constituency or area somewhere throughout the country.

Although a latest forecast gave away a majority of 170 seats in the House of Commons for the Labour party. This would be a big number but it still fell short of the 179 seats that were won by the  party under Tony Blair in the 1997 election. For a better perspective, the Conservatives ruled by Boris Johnson victory was won by a majority of 80 seats in the 2019 elections. 

The achieved results fall short of the more dramatic results that were predicted by the pollsters though the campaign. However, they represent a significant decline for the Conservatives since the previous election, in 2019, when former Prime Minister Boris Johnson led the party to a resounding victory. 

Since the 2019 election results, the parties have entered a bitter internal war, leader to leader and scandal to scandal. Recriminations were expected to be underway with the defeated party leaders giving different explanations for the defeat.

Starmer’s disciplined campaign was based on one word, ‘change’ and the party gained from the opposition party, Tory’s poor speech in order to convince the people of Britain. The pitch failed to reverse the public’s opinions about their performance. 

The victory of Keir Starmer provides an antidote for the rise of populist sentiments all across Europe.

Things move pretty fast in British politics – there is very little time between an election result and the installation of the new prime minister.

Rishi Sunak will be out of 10 Downing Street – the British equivalent of the White House – within 24 hours, and Sir Keir Starmer will be installed swiftly afterwards.

But it involves a process where Mr. Sunak will offer his resignation to the King, and Sir Keir will be formally invited by the monarch to form the next government in a meeting that normally happens at Buckingham Palace.