London, UK – On Friday, Keir Starmer will be sworn in as Britain’s new prime minister following a decisive general election win for his center-left Labour Party, which has ended 14 years of Conservative rule.
“The Labour Party has won this general election, and I have called Sir Keir Starmer to congratulate him on his victory,” said a solemn Rishi Sunak after being re-elected to his seat. “Today, power will change hands in a peaceful and orderly manner with goodwill on all sides,” the Tory leader added, calling the results “sobering” and accepting responsibility for the defeat.
At a jubilant rally in central London, Starmer, 61, addressed cheering supporters, declaring that “change begins here” and committing to a “decade of national renewal,” with a focus on putting “country first, party second.”
“Tonight, people here and around the country have spoken, and they’re ready for change, to end the politics of performance, a return to politics as public service,” Starmer said, emphasizing the mandate given by voters. “You have voted. It is now time for us to deliver.”
However, Starmer warned that change would not be immediate, despite Labour’s significant gains, including unseating nine Cabinet members and former prime minister Liz Truss.
Truss’s brief and turbulent 49-day tenure two years ago, marked by unfunded tax cuts that unsettled markets and devalued the pound, had heavily damaged the Tories’ standing with the public. She lost her seat by a narrow margin of just 630 votes amidst a grassroots campaign to remove her, dubbed the “Turnip Taliban.”
Labour surpassed the 326 seats needed for an overall majority in the 650-seat parliament at 0400 GMT, with final results anticipated later on Friday morning. An exit poll for UK broadcasters, released after polls closed at 2100 GMT on Thursday, projected Labour winning 410 seats, securing a 170-seat majority.
The Conservative Party, according to the poll, would capture only 131 seats in the House of Commons—a historic low—with the right-wing vote divided by Nigel Farage’s anti-immigration Reform UK party.