The Labor Party has officially won enough seats in the UK’s 2024 general election to have a majority in parliament, as vote counting continues. Labor Leader Keir Starmer will become prime minister and can form a majority government, AP reported.
Like Blair, who refashioned the party as “New Labor” in the 1990s, 61-year-old Starmer led Labor to victory over Rishi Sunak’s Conservative Party in Thursday’s election after dragging the party towards the political middle ground.
The Labor Party is bringing a new party to power for the first time in 14 years. A carefully choreographed ceremony on Friday will see King Charles III formally ask Labor leader Keir Starmer to form a new government.
Starmer says his government will always put “country first, party second.”
He said a “mandate like this comes with great responsibility,” and added that his government will be focused on “national renewal.”
“We have to return politics to public service,” he said.
With more than half of all 650 seats counted, Labor looks set to secure one of its biggest-ever majorities in the House of Commons, meaning leader Keir Starmer will become prime minister and can form a majority government.
“We did it,” Starmer told supporters at the Tate Modern museum in London.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak says the British people have “delivered a sobering verdict,” and the Labor Party has won the election.
Sunak, who held onto his seat in North Yorkshire, told those gathered: “The Labor party has won this general election.”
“I take responsibility for the loss,” he said. “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.”
He added that he has called Labour leader Keir Starmer to congratulate him on his victory.
“Today, power will 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,” Sunak said.
Liz Truss, the former prime minister whose premiership lasted just 49 days, has lost her lawmaker’s seat in the election.
Trusslost her Norfolk South West seat to Labor by just several hundred votes.
Several other high-profile and senior Conservative lawmakers also lost their seats, including House of Commons leader Penny Mordaunt.
Mordaunt lost her Portsmouth North seat in the south of England to Labor’s Amanda Martin by fewer than 1,000 votes.
Others who lost seats included education secretary Gillian Keegan and former business secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg.
