- Labour wins election; Conservatives defeated
- Low voter turnout; political disillusionment
- Reform UK, Green Party each win four seats
At least it’s not the Tories,” my neighbour replies, shielding herself from the rain with an umbrella.
Many in the United Kingdom reacted this way on Friday following the Labour Party’s landslide election victory or, more precisely, the Conservatives’ defeat.
Experts predict that voter turnout will be the lowest in more than 20 years, indicating that many people have given up on the political system.
The economy is failing, the National Health Service is overburdened, and the scandal-plagued Conservatives have eroded trust in politics.
They handled Brexit following a referendum campaign that badly divided Britain and resulted in the deadly shooting and stabbing of Labour MP Jo Cox. They lost support for handling the COVID-19 epidemic after senior Tories, including then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson, violated the nation’s lockdown regulations.
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During the election campaign, outgoing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak sparked outrage when he skipped an international celebration of the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landing, also known as D-Day, for a television interview. To top it off, Conservative Party members are suspected of betting on the general election date.
Many Labour voters preferred the party’s simple motto of “change” over its centre-left leader, Keir Starmer, a 61-year-old former lawyer with only ten years of political experience.
Jonathan Tonge, a professor of politics at the University of Liverpool, predicted an “apathetic landslide” earlier this week.
While the outcome may be evident, the future political landscape is anything but predictable.
Soon after the results of an exit poll were revealed on Thursday evening, Rory Stewart, a former Conservative cabinet minister, stated on Channel 4 that Britain is entering a period of more radical politics.
Reform UK, a hard-right start-up, has secured four seats.
All parties have campaigned for six weeks, but Reform’s momentum accelerated after populist firebrand Nigel Farage announced his candidature barely a month ago, an unexpected U-turn after previously stating he would not run. After seven failed efforts to become an MP, he is now set to represent Clacton-on-Sea in the UK Parliament.
Commentators noted the symmetry of the Green Party’s four seats.
“The Greens won four seats. Reform has also secured four seats. However, one party had 90% more mainstream media coverage than the other. Ask yourself, “Why?” Evolve Politics, a British left-wing news and current affairs website, wrote about X.
Four was also an important number for Labour. It lost four seats to independent candidates running on a pro-Palestine platform. Other independent candidates came close.
This is for the people of Gaza,” Shockat Adam, the newly elected MP for Leicester South, stated after being declared the winner.
He defeated Labour’s Jonathan Ashworth by only 979 votes.
Leanne Mohamed, a British-Palestinian candidate, was defeated in Ilford North by a mere 528 votes to Labour’s Wes Streeting.
Andrew Feinstein, a Jewish anti-Zionist and former South African politician seeking to unseat Starmer from his London seat of Holborn and St Pancras, also made an impact. He finished second behind Starmer, whose majority vote share has dropped by 17% since 2019.
Starmer’s top priority will be to keep the economy stable. He will also be eager to restore trust in the political system and demonstrate to the public that Labour is a party that works for everyone.
“At least it’s not the Tories” is the motto for now. In the coming months, Starmer may worry people saying, “Better the devil you know.”
