News News••an average
The Labour Party has won a major victory in the British parliamentary elections. According to a national opinion poll, the party of opposition leader Keir Starmer will gain an absolute majority in the House of Commons, and the ruling Conservative Party led by Prime Minister Sunak will suffer a dramatic defeat.
The Social Democrats are on track to win 410 seats out of 650 in the exit poll, more than doubling their 202 votes in the previous election in 2019.
The Conservatives hold 131 seats out of 364. That is fewer than in 1997, when they were trounced by Tony Blair’s Labour Party. In fact, it is the Conservatives’ worst result ever.
Watch here how the exit poll results were announced on national television:
Opinion poll: Labour is the biggest winner in the British election
Some Conservative voters have certainly moved to the Liberal Democrats and the UK Reform Party led by far-right populist Nigel Farage. According to the polls, the Liberal Democrats have gone from 8 seats to 61, and the UK Reform Party has gone from zero to 13. The Green Party goes from 1 to 2.
The Scottish Nationalists are losing dozens of seats, and according to opinion polls they are down to just 10. For years, the SNP, led by populist leader Nicola Sturgeon, was the largest party in Scotland. In 2019, it won 48 of Scotland’s 59 seats in the House of Commons, but now Labour in Scotland appears to have regained its former stronghold.
Star of Glory
Labour’s return to power is not surprising. Since 2021, the party has made significant progress in the polls.
In May, Prime Minister Sunak unexpectedly called a new election, perhaps hoping to surprise Labour and avoid a “stargazing” disaster.
The Conservative Party’s defeat is widely attributed to voter discontent with the poor state of public services, rising poverty and poor economic performance after Brexit, and the Conservatives’ chaotic, scandal-plagued administration.
Starmer has led the Labour Party since 2019, when he succeeded left-winger Jeremy Corbyn, who lost the election in a landslide to Boris Johnson. Since then, Starmer, who is seen as unattractive, has followed a moderate and cautious path, returning Labour to the political centre.