Changing the guard - but how!

Great Britain: Labour clearly ahead, Sunak crashes

Sunak's Tories were pulverized in the election - the Labour Party under Keir Starmer (right) won an absolute majority.

(Bild: AFP/AP, AFP)

British voters have voted out the Conservatives, who were responsible for Brexit, after 14 years. Opposition leader Keir Starmer's social democratic Labour Party won an absolute majority in Thursday's general election. Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had already conceded defeat and congratulated his opponent Starmer. This is a historic defeat for the Tories. 

Millions of people were able to cast their votes before the polling stations closed at 11 pm (CEST). The first forecast, based on post-election polls, already paints a more than clear picture - with a new prime minister.

Sunak slides into a debacle
And this shows a debacle for the incumbent Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. As the pollsters predicted in the run-up to the election, he was more than clearly defeated by the opposition Labor Party.

Sunak has already conceded defeat. In Richmond in the north of England, he said on Friday night that he had already called Starmer and congratulated him. "Power will be handed over peacefully today," promised the Conservative head of government.

He accepted responsibility for his party's massive defeat, but also announced that he would remain a member of parliament. At practically the same time, it became known that Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt was also able to defend his shaky lower house seat. As two important opponents, the Minister of Defense Grant Shapps and the former minister Penny Mordaunt, lost their seats, Hunt emerged as Sunak's possible successor.

Labour wins absolute majority
Currently, 635 of the 650 constituencies have already been counted and it is clear that Labour will win an absolute majority. The Social Democrats have 410 seats in the House of Commons, 326 would be needed for a simple majority. Sunak's Tories currently stand on 114 seats, a loss of over 240 seats in Parliament.

The Labour Party are therefore only just behind their historically best result (Tony Blair achieved 418 seats in 1997), for the Tories this is the worst result since the party was founded in 1834.

Furthermore, the Liberal Democrats are currently on 70 seats, while the Scottish National Party and the Irish Sinn Fein have won eight and seven seats respectively. Nigel Farage's Reform Party is currently on four seats, with the right-wing populist who once achieved questionable fame as "Mister Brexit" actually being one of the big election winners with his entry into parliament. 

Things should move quickly after the election
As soon as the result is known, King Charles III will officially commission the new Prime Minister to form a government on Friday.

Starmer wants to bring about "change" now
Immediately after the election victory was confirmed, the future head of government Starmer addressed his supporters. "The change begins now. The light of hope is shining again," he emphasized. The new government wanted to "turn over a new leaf" after 14 years of Conservative rule and end the political chaos. "We are starting to rebuild this nation." 

Starmer's election campaign also focused on the promise to bring about "change". In doing so, he alluded to the anger of many Britons about the poor state of public services, for example in the health service, and about living standards that have been falling for years. Many Britons were also keen to teach the ruling Conservatives a lesson for the UK's exit from the EU during their time in office.

Voters punish scandals and affairs mercilessly
There are many reasons for the Conservatives' decline. Above all, numerous scandals and affairs, especially under former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, have destroyed people's trust in the Tory party, which has been in power for 14 years. Added to this is economic stagnation.

Complicated electoral system
Around 46 million voters are eligible, and all 650 seats in the House of Commons are allocated by direct mandate. In the last election in 2019, the Tories won 365 seats, while Labour had 202 seats. In the British first-past-the-post system, however, only the candidate with the most votes wins the constituency. All other votes have no effect.

The Conservative Tories have ruled the UK for 14 years, with prime ministers such as Boris Johnson and Liz Truss at the helm.