LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Keir Starmer on Friday will become Britain’s new prime minister, as his center-left opposition Labor party swept to a landslide general election victory, ending 14 years of right-wing Conservative rule.
“The Labor Party has won this general election, and I have called Sir Keir Starmer to congratulate him on his victory,” a somber-looking Rishi Sunak said after he was 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 saying he took responsibility for the defeat.
At a triumphant party rally in central London, Starmer, 61, told cheering activists that “change begins here” and promised a “decade of national renewal”, putting “country first, party second.”
But he cautioned that change would not come overnight, even as Labor snatched a swathe of Tory seats around the country, including from at least eight Cabinet members.
Labor raced past the 326 seats needed to secure an overall majority in the 650-seat parliament at 0400 GMT, with the final result expected later on Friday morning.
An exit poll for UK broadcasters published after polls closed at 2100 GMT on Thursday put Labor on course for a return to power for the first time since 2010, with 410 seats and a 170-seat majority.
The Tories would only get 131 seats in the House of Commons — a record low — with the right-wing vote apparently spliced by Nigel Farage’s anti-immigration Reform UK party, which could bag 13 seats.
In another boost for the centrists, the smaller opposition Liberal Democrats would get 61 seats, ousting the Scottish National Party (SNP) on 10 as the third-biggest party.
The projected overall result bucks a rightward trend among Britain’s closest Western allies, with the far right in France eyeing power and Donald Trump looking set for a return in the United States.
British newspapers all focused on Labor’s impending return to power for the first time since Gordon Brown was ousted by David Cameron in 2010.
“Keir We Go,” headlined the Labor-supporting Daily Mirror. “Britain sees red,” said The Sun, the influential Rupert Murdoch tabloid, which swung behind Labor for the first time since 2005.
Sunak will tender his resignation to head of state King Charles III, with the monarch then asking Starmer, as the leader of the largest party in parliament, to form a government.
Meanwhile, the SNP lost dozens of lawmakers as it headed for its worst result in a British general election since 2010, with senior Member of Parliament Stephen Flynn, who held his seat, lamenting a “black night” for his party.
The SNP has been in turmoil for months as voters tire of its 17 years in charge of the devolved Scottish parliament in Edinburgh.
Critics have also accused it of focusing on independence at the expense of key issues such as the cost-of-living crisis, education and health.