Labour has won the UK election, returning to power after 14 years of Conservative Government. Former human rights lawyer Keir Starmer will become Prime Minister.
Labour is expected to win around 405 seats out of 650, its best result this century.
Meanwhile, the Conservative Party (Tories), led by Rishi Sunak, is set to win around 140 seats — its worst‐ever result.
Outgoing PM Sunak confirmed he called Starmer to offer his congratulations. “Labour has won this election,” he said.
Results
With a projected 405 seats, this is Labour’s best election result since 2001, and double its share of seats from the last election in 2019.
Smaller parties are also expected to record historic results. The Liberal Democrats, a centrist party who campaigned for increased support for home carers, is set to win 58 seats, compared to 11 in 2019.
Reform UK, led by Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage, is expected to pick up its first-ever UK Parliament seats. Its key campaign promise was to stop ”all non-essential immigration”.
The Tories will be in Opposition for the first time since 2010. With a projected 144 seats, the party is headed for the worst result in its 200-year history.
The BBC reports many former Cabinet members are set to lose their seats.
Former Prime Minister Liz Truss, who resigned in October 2022 after 45 days in office, lost her seat.
“We have to return politics to public service, show that politics can be a force for good. Make no mistake — that is the great test of politics in this era, a fight for trust is the battle that defines our age… We said we would end the chaos and we will. We said we would turn the page and we have. Today, we start the next chapter… We will start to rebuild our country.”
Sir Keir Starmer, new UK Prime Minister
Next steps
In a short speech on Friday morning (local time) Sunak confirmed Labour’s victory and said he had offered his congratulations to Starmer over the phone.
Sunak is expected to submit his resignation in person to King Charles III later today.
Members of the House of Commons (Lower House) will be sworn in on 9 July. The first official session of Parliament will begin with a speech by the King on 17 July.
