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Starmer
pledges
to
stabilise
UK as
Labour
win huge
majority
By
Andrew
Macaskill,
Elizabeth
Piper,
and
Alistair
Smout
reuters.com
LONDON,
July 5
(Reuters)
- Keir
Starmer
vowed to
rebuild
Britain
as its
next
prime
minister
after
his
Labour
Party on
Friday
surged
to a
landslide
victory
in a
parliamentary
election,
ending
14 years
of often
tumultuous
Conservative
government.
The
centre-left
Labour
won a
massive
majority
in the
650-seat
parliament.
Rishi
Sunak's
Conservatives
suffered
the
worst
performance
in the
party's
long
history
as
voters
punished
them for
a cost
of
living
crisis,
failing
public
services,
and a
series
of
scandals.
"We did
it,"
Starmer
said in
a
victory
speech.
"Change
begins
now ...
We said
we would
end the
chaos,
and we
will, we
said we
would
turn the
page,
and we
have.
Today,
we start
the next
chapter,
begin
the work
of
change,
the
mission
of
national
renewal
and
start to
rebuild
our
country."
The
election
result
has
upended
British
politics.
Labour
won some
410
seats,
an
increase
of 210,
while
the
Conservatives,
the
western
world's
most
successful
party,
lost
about
250
lawmakers,
including
a record
number
of
senior
ministers
and
former
Prime
Minister
Liz
Truss.
The
Scottish
National
Party
imploded,
losing
38
seats,
ending
its own
decade
of
dominance
in
Scotland
and
leaving
its
dream of
independence
for
Scotland
in
tatters,
while
conversely
the
Irish
nationalists
Sinn
Fein
became
Northern
Ireland's
largest
party
for the
first
time.
Meanwhile,
the
populist
right-wing
Reform
UK
party,
headed
by Nigel
Farage,
the
colourful
Brexit
campaigner
and
friend
of
Donald
Trump,
won more
than
four
million
votes.
While it
secured
only
four
lawmakers,
its
impact
on the
outcome
by
siphoning
vast
tracts
of
Conservative
support
will
make
Farage a
major
thorn in
the side
of the
two
major
parties.
SORRY
SUNAK
A glum
Sunak
conceded
defeat
and will
meet
King
Charles
later to
formally
resign
before
Starmer
is
appointed
in his
place.
"Today
power
will
change
hands in
a
peaceful
and
orderly
manner,
with
goodwill
on all
sides,"
Sunak
said.
"There
is much
to learn
and
reflect
on and I
take
responsibility
for the
loss to
the many
good
hardworking
Conservative
candidates
... I am
sorry."
Despite
his
convincing
victory,
polls
have
suggested
there is
little
enthusiasm
for
Starmer
or his
party.
Thanks
to the
quirk of
Britain's
first
past the
post
system
and a
low
turnout,
Labour's
triumph
was
achieved
with
fewer
votes
than it
secured
in 2017
and 2019
- the
latter
its
worst
result
for 84
years.
The
pound
and
British
stocks
and
government
bonds
rose on
Friday,
but
Starmer
comes to
power at
a time
when the
country
is
facing a
series
of
daunting
challenges.
Britain's
tax
burden
is set
to hit
its
highest
since
just
after
World
War Two,
net debt
is
almost
equivalent
to
annual
economic
output,
living
standards
have
fallen,
and
public
services
are
creaking,
especially
the much
cherished
National
Health
Service
which
has been
dogged
by
strikes.
Some of
Labour's
more
ambitious
plans,
such as
its
flagship
green
spending
pledges,
have
already
been
scaled
back
while
Starmer
has
promised
not to
raise
taxes
for
"working
people".
Likewise,
he has
promised
to scrap
the
Conservative's
controversial
policy
of
sending
asylum
seekers
to
Rwanda,
but with
migration
a key
electoral
issue,
he will
be under
pressure
himself
to find
a way to
stop
tens of
thousands
of
people
arriving
across
the
Channel
from
France
on small
boats.
"I don't
promise
you it
will be
easy,"
Starmer
said.
"Changing
a
country
is not
like
flicking
a
switch.
It's
hard
work.
Patient,
determined,
work,
and we
will
have to
get
moving
immediately."
RECRIMINATIONS
Within
the
Conservative
Party,
the
recriminations
and
debate
over its
future
direction
began
immediately,
with
some
saying
its
failure
stemmed
from
shifting
to the
right
while
others
argued
Reform
had won
over
voters
who felt
the
party
was not
right-wing
enough
for its
traditional
supporters.
"There
is a
massive
gap on
the
centre
right of
British
politics
and my
job is
to fill
it, and
that's
exactly
what I'm
going to
do,"
said a
triumphant
Farage
after
finally
being
elected
to
parliament
at his
eighth
attempt.
"Believe
me
folks,
this is
just the
first
step of
something
that is
going to
stun all
of you."
The
growth
in
support
for a
right-wing
alternative
echoed
recent
similar
results
in
Europe,
where
the far
right
have
been
surging.
But,
unlike
France
where
Marine
Le Pen's
National
Rally
party
made
historic
gains in
an
election
last
Sunday,
overall
the
British
public
has
plumped
for a
centre-left
party to
bring
about
change.
Starmer
has
promised
to
improve
relations
with the
European
Union to
resolve
issues
created
by
Britain's
split
from the
bloc.
However,
despite
opposing
Brexit,
rejoining
the EU
is not
on the
table.
He may
also
have to
work
with
Trump if
he wins
November's
presidential
election.
Trump
has
already
sent
congratulations
to
Farage,
via his
social
media
platform
Truth
Social.
While he
has
promised
to bring
change
domestically,
Starmer
has
vowed to
continue
London's
unequivocal
support
for
Ukraine
in its
war
against
Russia.
On many
foreign
issues,
his
policies
are
similar
to
Sunak's.
TURNAROUND
The
election
victory
represents
an
incredible
turnaround
for
Starmer
and
Labour,
which
critics
and
supporters
said was
facing
an
existential
crisis
just
three
years
ago when
it
appeared
to have
lost its
way
after
its 2019
drubbing.
A series
of
Conservative
scandals
- most
notably
revelations
of
parties
in
Downing
Street
during
COVID
lockdowns
-
undermined
then
prime
minister
Boris
Johnson
and its
commanding
poll
lead
evaporated.
Truss'
disastrous
six-week
premiership
in 2022,
which
followed
Johnson
being
forced
out,
cemented
the
decline,
and
Sunak
was
unable
to make
any dent
in
Labour's
now
commanding
poll
lead.
Sunak
stunned
Westminster
and many
in his
own
party by
calling
the
election
earlier
than he
needed
to while
trailing
badly in
the
polls,
and his
campaign
then
proved a
disaster.
"What is
crystal
clear to
me
tonight
is it is
not so
much
that
Labour
won this
election,
but
rather
that the
Conservatives
have
lost
it,"
said
defence
minister
Grant
Shapps,
the most
high-profile
minister
to lose
his
seat.
"We have
tried
the
patience
of
traditional
Conservative
voters
with a
propensity
to
create
an
endless
political
soap
opera
out of
internal
rivalries
and
divisions,
which
have
become
increasingly
indulgent
and
entrenched."
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