In a groundbreaking turn of events, Keir Starmer has become the United Kingdom’s newest Prime Minister. After securing a historic victory for Labour in the general elections, Starmer made the unprecedented announcement of appointing Rachel Reeves as the first woman ever to be chancellor of the exchequer.
On an intense political night, Starmer swept the polls by more than 170 seats, at which point he stood outside Number 10 amidst jubilant supporters and pledged to mend the strained relationship between politicians and citizens.
He expressed his belief that actions, not words, alone will repair this distrust, vowing that his focus would be on increasing economic growth. Additionally, expectations are high for imminent liberalisation of planning and encouragement of house building.
Reeves stated her intention to lead the “most growth-driven Treasury in our country’s history,” expressing her desire for the Treasury to bring stability and take a significant position “in a new era of industrial strategy”.
As the seventh Labour leader to step into the role of Prime Minister, Starmer officially took up residence in Number 10 on Friday afternoon and was swift to put together his trusted cabinet. Reeves, Angela Rayner (Deputy Prime Minister), and Pat McFadden (Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster) take their places in the ruling quartet led by Starmer.
The new cabinet includes David Lammy as foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper as home secretary, Jonathan Reynolds as business secretary, and John Healey as defence secretary. Notably, many of Starmer’s cabinet members had similar roles when in opposition.
This electoral success for Labour is a notable win for Starmer, who became the party leader in 2020 after their worst defeat in the post-World War II era. His victory mirrors Tony Blair’s 1997 landslide for Labour.
By Friday evening, Labour had won 412 seats, with just one constituency pending to be declared. The Conservative party suffered a severe loss, going down as their worst defeat to date, to a large extent due to Rishi Sunak.
The reform UK party led by Nigel Farage ate into Conservative votes, reducing their seat count to a meagre 121. What is noteworthy is that Labour managed to secure its majority with just 34 per cent of the vote – the lowest winning percentage ever.
Even though Labour had its last victory in 2005 under Blair, Starmer will take on the role of Prime Minister with the understanding that support for Labour amongst the public is relatively thin.
In the lead-up to the election, Labour was predicted to outstrip their competitors by 20 points in poll ratings. During the 2017 defeat, Jeremy Corbyn, the previous Labour leader with left-leaning political ideologies, had garnered 40% of the votes. Trade unions and large property developers seemed encouraged by Keir Starmer’s staunchly pro-business stance, with housing firms spearheading Friday’s rally of UK stocks. Labour is committed to constructing 1.5 million homes in the forthcoming five years.
The presence of Reform UK effectively divided the right wing’s vote allowing Labour to secure a significant number of seats, which consequently impacted the Tories’ position in the first-past-the-post system. This system brought down significant names from the Conservative party, including Liz Truss, the erstwhile prime minister, whose rather turbulent 49-day reign and the subsequent economic instability greatly amplified the Tory downfall.
Leading official John Curtice made a remark to the BBC, stating that the elections seemed more like a Conservative’s defeat rather than Labour’s victory. Rishi Sunak addressed the nation earlier on Friday, where he declared from Downing Street that he would step down from his prime minister role, in addition to resigning as the Tory leader as soon as this action could be formally enacted. The Prime Minister expressed his apologies to the citizens, recognising the signal for change in UK governance they communicated through their votes.
Sunak also acknowledged the people’s anger and disappointment, taking accountability for defeat. Approximately 60% electorate turned up at the polling booths, a statistic nearing a historic low, indicating prevalent public displeasure with mainstream political ideologies.
Starmer conceded the urgent necessity for mainstream politics to re-establish its links with the voting public, stating that their struggle for trust was a defining representation of their era. The almost complete count demonstrated that 34% of voting shared went to Labour, the Conservatives received 24%, Reform got 14%, and the Liberal Democrats collected 12%. The Labour party secured 411 seats, the Conservatives 121, the Lib Dems 71, and Reform five.
The Liberal Democrats’ score of 71 seats surpassed their 2005 record of 62, making notable headway into the affluent Conservatively dominated southern English constituencies. Lastly, the Scottish National party trailed Labour in Scotland, managing to secure only 10 seats, thus severely undermining the party’s aspirations for independence.
High-profile Tory figures, including Grant Shapps, the Defence Secretary, Penny Mordaunt, House of Commons Leader, Gillian Keegan, Secretary of State for Education, Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, ex-Cabinet Minister, and Alex Chalk, Secretary for Justice, suffered noteworthy losses in the wake of a disastrous night for the Conservatives.
Jeremy Corbyn, standing as an independent, retained his Islington North constituency, whereas Labour triumphed over George Galloway, the left-wing, pro-Palestine Rochdale MP. However, Labour’s stance on the conflict between Israel and Hamas, under the leadership of Mr Starmer, led to the party losing five seats, including the one held by shadow cabinet member Jonathan Ashworth, to pro-Palestine independent runners. This loss highlights Starmer’s declining popularity among a significant number of Muslim voters.
In the recent general elections, the Green Party had a noteworthy triumph, securing all four target seats and thus sending four times as many MPs to Westminster than before.
Labour’s success represents a departure from current global political patterns, observing the rise of far-right parties in recent European and French elections, as well as Donald Trump’s polling lead in the US presidential race.
The Tories secured only 121 seats, a count below their all-time low of 156 from the 1906 polls. In comparison, Mr Starmer’s projected seat count is approaching the milestone of 418 seats Mr Blair secured during his resounding 1997 victory. ©2024 Financial Times Ltd.