Labour sweeps to power in UK election victory

The United Kingdom woke up to a new era on Friday morning after the Labour Party swept to power in the general election, ending 14 years of rule by the Conservative Party in devastating fashion.

At the last election in 2019, Labour recorded its worst performance since 1935, but this time it gained an additional 209 seats, while Rishi Sunak's Conservative Party lost 248 seats as it slumped to its worst-ever election results.

The British electoral system is based on individual seats won, rather than the overall vote share received. By Friday morning, with results for five out of the 650 seats yet to come, Labour had won 411 seats and was on course for a majority of around 170 seats, based on a vote share of only 35 percent.

Sunak conceded defeat shortly before 5 am. "The British people have delivered a sobering verdict tonight, there is much to learn ... and I take responsibility for the loss," he said.

After the Conservatives lost heavily to the Labour Party, Sunak said he would formally resign as Britain's Conservative leader and prime minister on Friday.

"To the country, I would like to say first and foremost, I am sorry," he said outside the Prime Minister's residence at Downing Street, before heading to Buckingham Palace to tender his resignation as prime minister to King Charles III.

Later, Keir Starmer officially became prime minister of the United Kingdom as he received the blessing of King Charles III to form a government in a ceremony known as the "kissing of hands".

A delighted Starmer promised that his government would work from day one on national renewal, in his first speech as UK prime minister from Downing Street. "The work of change begins immediately. But have no doubt, we will rebuild Britain," he said.

Record loss

The night of drama that saw many of the most prominent members of the old government lose their seats was as much about the collapse of the Conservative vote and a disillusioned electorate punishing it, as it was about Labour winning, with the government-in-waiting's vote share barely higher than in 2019.

A record 12 of 31 members of Sunak's Cabinet lost their seats, while Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt only held on to his by fewer than 1,000 votes, as the Liberal Democrats leaped up from 11 seats in 2019 to 71, to become the third-biggest party in Parliament, with the anti-immigration Reform Party taking votes off the Conservatives across the country, but only picking up four seats.

But statistics showed that Labour's victory was what one election night TV pundit called a "loveless landslide", caused by rejection of the Conservatives after being in power for so long, rather than a positive enthusiasm for what Starmer has to offer.

Sam Coates, deputy political editor for Sky News, said: "This result cannot be treated as an unalloyed endorsement of everything Labour campaigned on. The shifting political sands point to a fickle electorate determined to punish incumbents."

John Curtice, a professor of politics at the University of Strathclyde, told the BBC it looked "more like an election the Conservatives have lost than one Labour have won".

"Conservative support fell most heavily in seats they were trying to defend. This is primarily the result of a large increase in Reform's support, especially in places where there was a high Leave vote (in the 2016 Brexit referendum)," Curtice said.

Labour won 27 of the 32 seats available in Wales, with the Conservatives utterly wiped out, and also profited from the collapse of support for the Scottish National Party, or SNP, which saw its previously 48 seats reduced to just nine.

"It's been a very bleak election for the party," SNP's leader Stephen Flynn in the Westminster parliament said. "We've lost a huge number of very valued colleagues … it's just a Starmer tsunami that has swept all over us."

Jeremy Corbyn, Starmer's predecessor as Labour leader, who was expelled from the party, stood as an independent candidate and won.

julian@mail.chinadailyuk.com