The Labour Party came out on top in the U.K.’s recent parliamentary election, ending the Conservative Party’s 14-year rule. The Conservatives, meanwhile, experienced the worst defeat in their party’s nearly 200-year history, reduced to 121 seats after losing 251 of the seats it once held in the 650-seat Parliament.
The now-former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stepped down on July 5, taking responsibility for the electoral wipeout. In a speech following the election, he apologized to the people for his numerous failures. The results reflected the country’s displeasure with the Conservatives’ performance and desire for change.
The Conservative Party has been dogged by various scandals in recent years, such as Brexit and Boris Johnson’s “partygate.” The country is also facing many issues, with Britain’s current tax burden at record highs, worsening living standards, and public services straining from strikes. Britain now has more children in poverty than all other wealthy countries, based on U.N. data.
Keir Starmer replaced Sunak as the new prime minister with a landslide majority, winning 411 seats, with the expectation that he would introduce many reforms. The polls, however, suggest the people feel little enthusiasm for Starmer and his party.
The election also wasn’t an absolute victory for the Labour Party given that it lost four areas to independent, pro-Palestinian candidates, showing the peoples’ disapproval of the Starmer’s defense of Israel’s ongoing genocide in Palestine.
Starmer has met with King Charles III and formally become the U.K. prime minister. He has since begun forming his Cabinet, including appointing Rachel Reeves as the U.K.’s first female treasury chief.