Labour wins UK general election with Keir Starmer to be next prime minister / Keir Starmer hails ‘sunlight of hope’ as Britain wakes up to Labour landslide

General election 2024

Keir Starmer hails ‘sunlight of hope’ as Britain wakes up to Labour landslide

 

Labour leader promises ‘age of national renewal’ in which his government will ‘start to rebuild our country’

 

Pippa Crerar, Jessica Elgot, Rowena Mason and Kiran Stacey

Fri 5 Jul 2024 06.38 BST

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/jul/05/time-for-us-to-deliver-says-starmer-as-labour-heads-for-landslide

 

Keir Starmer has said the “sunlight of hope” is now bathing Britain again as Labour won a landslide UK election victory, bringing a crushing end to 14 years of Conservative rule.

 

The Labour leader is expected to become prime minister later on Friday after Rishi Sunak conceded, with voters giving Starmer a massive mandate to bring about change in Britain.

 

Speaking at Royal Festival Hall in London, Starmer said people would be waking up to the news of a Labour victory and Tory defeat “relieved that a weight has been lifted, a burden finally removed”.

 

Sunak’s party is on track to record its worst performance in a general election, with a record number of cabinet ministers set to lose their seats and big names such as Jacob Rees-Mogg, Penny Mordaunt and Grant Shapps ousted.

 

Labour is on course to win a predicted 408 seats, securing a majority of 160 to the Conservatives’ 136. It was also set for dominance in Scotland, with the SNP reduced to an estimated eight seats, while the Liberal Democrats were expected to end the night with 66 seats.

 

A surge in votes for the Reform party suggested it would win at least four seats, with Nigel Farage becoming an MP in Clacton on his eighth attempt to enter parliament.

 

The Greens looked set to match this record of four seats, after surprise victories in Waveney, North Herefordshire and Bristol Central, as well as being predicted to hold on in Brighton.

 

There were shock victories for pro-Palestine independent candidates, with Jonathan Ashworth, one of Labour’s election chiefs, voted out in Leicester South, and the former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn winning in Islington North. Plaid Cymru was expected to win four seats.

 

In his victory speech, Starmer told a rally that change “begins now”.

 

“It feels good, I have to be honest,” he said. “Four and a half years of work, changing the party. This is what it is for. A changed Labour party, ready to serve our country, ready to restore Britain to the service of working people.

 

Starmer promised an “age of national renewal” in which Labour would “start to rebuild our country” but he also acknowledged that change would not be easy.

 

The Labour leader said the “sunlight of hope was … shining once again in a country with an opportunity after 14 years to get its future back”.

 

In remarks conceding Labour had won, Sunak said power would “change hands in a peaceful and orderly manner, with goodwill on all sides. That is something that should give us all confidence in our country’s stability and future.”

 

In a speech at his election count, the prime minister said it had been a “difficult night” for his party and there was lots to reflect on.

 

He held his seat in Richmond, North Yorkshire, by more than 12,000 votes, and said he looked forward to continuing to serve his constituents in the “weeks, months and years ahead”.

 

“The British people have delivered a sobering verdict tonight, there is much to learn … and I take responsibility for the loss,” he added.

 

“To the many good, hard-working Conservative candidates who lost tonight, despite their tireless efforts, their local records and delivery, and their dedication to their communities. I am sorry.”

 

The results appeared to confirm that Labour’s “time for change” message had struck a chord with voters after years of chaos and division under the Tories, including the Brexit vote and its fallout, the handling of the Covid pandemic and the Partygate scandal.

 

At the last general election, in 2019, the Conservatives had a majority of 80, with 365 seats to Labour’s 203. The SNP won 48 seats and the Lib Dems had just 11.

 

If the exit poll is correct, Labour has secured a huge swing away from the Conservatives, who were on course to suffer their worst ever performance, and away from the SNP in Scotland, where John Swinney’s party will have been decimated, losing more than 40 seats.