- Sunak resigns, Starmer becomes Prime Minister
- Labour wins majority, Tories lose 250 seats
- Reform UK and Lib Dems gain MPs
Rishi Sunak has apologised to the nation following the Conservative Party’s worst legislative defeat in history.
Sir Keir Starmer has led the Labour Party to a resounding win and will succeed Mr Sunak as the UK’s Prime Minister.
Accepting responsibility for the outcome, Mr Sunak stated that he heard voters’ “anger” at his government.
He stated, “To the country, first and foremost, I apologise.”
I have given this job my all, but you have sent a clear message that the government of the UK must change, and yours is the judgement that matters.”I have heard your frustration and disappointment, and I accept responsibility for this loss.
Mr Sunak delivered his statement outside Number 10 despite earlier rain, this time with a brolly in hand to avoid repeating his soggy election announcement in May.
Mr Sunak said he would step down as party head “not immediately, but once the formal arrangements for selecting my successor are in place”.
The Richmond and Northallerton MP urged on “an orderly transition” and paid tribute to Sir Keir, whom he described as “a decent and public-spirited man who I respect”.
Just before his speech, Mr Sunak said goodbye to colleagues in Downing Street and drove out with his wife, Akshata, to deliver his resignation to the King.
In a victory speech in central London, Sir Keir stated that “change begins now” and that “it feels good, to be honest.
With nearly all results, Labour is expected to establish the next government with a majority of 174. Currently, they have 412 MPs, up 211 from the last election.
The Conservatives are poised for the worst result in their history. They have lost 250 seats and are currently down to 121.
Former Prime Minister Liz Truss, whose brief, disastrous tenure in government resulted in a drop in Tory support from which the party never recovered, lost her South West Norfolk seat to Labour by 630 votes.
Ms Truss’ enormous 32,988 advantage was reversed, with the Reform candidate finishing third with 9,958 votes.
She is among the senior Conservatives who have lost their seats, including Defence Secretary Grant Shapps, Commons leader Penny Mordaunt, Justice Secretary Alex Chalk, and former minister Sir Jacob-Rees Mogg.
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly stated that a “large number of people who had previously voted Conservative have voted Reform” and that the Conservatives must now “think hard” about regaining their support.
Former minister Steve Baker, who has been a thorn in the side of Tory leaders over Brexit, expressed satisfaction after losing his position as MP for Wycombe after 14 years.
“Thank God, I am free – it’s over,” he said from the empty hall where the ballots had been counted overnight.
At his eighth attempt, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage secured a seat in Parliament in Clacton, promising that “this is just the first step of something that is going to stun all of you.
Reform has four MPs so far, including chairman Richard Tice and former Tory Lee Anderson, and has finished second in various regions of the country, taking significant votes away from the Conservatives.
In a victory address in London, Sir Keir told applauding Labour supporters that the country was waking up to “the sunlight of hope,” which was “shining once more on a country with the opportunity after 14 years to reclaim its future.”
He said, “Now we can look forward and walk into the morning.”
The Liberal Democrats have slightly fewer votes than Reform but have benefited the most from the Tory collapse, rising to 71 MPs, including the constituencies of three former Tory Prime Ministers: Boris Johnson, David Cameron, and Theresa May.
Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey stated, “This is a record-breaking night for the Liberal Democrats.”
He added: “We will now work hard to maintain that trust by focusing on the issues that are most important to them, most notably the NHS and care.”
The Green Party of England and Wales now has four MPs, with co-leaders Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay among the winners.
However, it has been a bad night for the SNP, which has been reduced to just eight MPs thus far.
Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has defeated his former party to keep his Islington North seat as an independent.
However, another prominent former Labour MP, George Galloway, lost the Rochdale seat he gained in a by-election in February to Labour’s Paul Waugh.
According to polling expert Sir John Curtice, Sir Keir Starmer’s landslide fell short of Tony Blair’s 179-vote majority in 1997. Its vote share increased by only 2% across the country, owing mostly to significant gains in Scotland.
However, it will result in the first Labour prime minister in Downing Street since 2010 and a debate over the Conservatives’ future course.
Penny Mordaunt, who narrowly lost to Labour by 780 votes, was expected to run for Tory leader again following the election.
She admitted defeat, saying her party lost because it “failed to honour the trust people had placed in it.”
Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris reiterated her message, telling the Tories that they had “lost the trust of the British people by failing to deliver.” That’s where things went awry.
He said, “We have to regroup and reconnect and actually just be a unified Conservative Party.”
The Conservatives have lost seats in England’s shire counties that they had held since the late nineteenth or early twentieth centuries.
Former attorney general Sir Robert Buckland, the first Tory MP to lose his seat as the results came in, said his party was facing “electoral Armageddon” and Labour’s success was a “big vote for change”.
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He also slammed colleagues, including former home secretary Suella Braverman, for “spectacularly unprofessional and ill-disciplined” actions throughout the campaign.
He said I’m tired of personal agendas and jockeying for power, predicting that the impending Tory leadership contest would be like a gaggle of bald men battling over a comb.
First Minister John Swinney stated that the SNP needs to win that argument in the debate over Scottish independence.
Opinion polls suggest that around half of Scotland’s population supports independence.
The election results tonight do not reflect that, and we must examine the situation closely as a party and consider how to repair it.
