Sir Keir Starmer celebrated a massive general election win this morning following a devastating night for Rishi Sunak’s Tories. Despite Labour’s significant victory, it has been described as a ‘loveless landslide’ and a ‘super meh-jority’ due to the low voter turnout.
With nearly all constituencies declared, Labour won barely one in three votes across the UK. Labour’s vote share of 33.8 percent is notably less than any of Sir Tony Blair’s general election victories in 1997, 2001, or 2005. It is also lower than the 40 percent secured by former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in 2017 and the 36.1 percent David Cameron received for the Conservatives in 2010, which resulted in a hung parliament.
Newly-elected Labour MPs suggested the public may reconsider Britain’s voting system following the party’s triumph, while Corbyn’s allies claimed Sir Keir had won ‘by default’ due to the dramatic collapse in Conservative support.
The catastrophic decline in Tory votes resulted in the party’s lowest number of MPs ever, leaving Mr. Sunak facing his final hours as Prime Minister. Sunak returned to London from his Yorkshire constituency, conceding victory to Sir Keir and issuing an apology in a shell-shocked speech.
Mr. Sunak is expected to say a few valedictory words before heading to see the King and formally resign. Sir Keir will then follow Mr. Sunak into Buckingham Palace before returning to enter No.10 Downing Street.
As Labour’s majority ticks up to 170, just short of Blair’s 179 in 1997, the Tories struggle to reach 130 MPs, falling short of their previous nadir of 156 in 1906. The Lib Dems inflicted significant damage on the Tories, securing a record 71 seats, while Reform UK came second in around a hundred constituencies but only secured four MPs.
Sir Keir celebrated his victory at a rally in central London, embracing his wife Victoria and proclaiming that the British people had ‘voted to turn the page’ on 14 years of Conservative rule. He emphasized that the outcome was not inevitable and thanked voters for their support.
The catastrophic results for the Tories included notable losses such as Liz Truss, who lost her 24,000 majority in South West Norfolk, Penny Mordaunt in Portsmouth North, and Grant Shapps in Welwyn Hatfield.
In his parting remarks, Mr. Shapps stated that the Conservatives had ‘lost’ the election rather than Labour winning it, acknowledging the party had ‘tried the patience’ of the public by being divided.