Britain’s Labour Party, after 14 years in the political wilderness, has finally handed a brutal defeat to the ruling Conservatives.
Leader of the opposition Party, Mr Keir Starmer is now certain to become prime minister in the coming hours, replacing his Conservative Party counterpart, Rishi Sunak, who has presided over one of the worst electoral losses in British political history.
Speaking as drawn broke in London, he said Labour would offer “the sunlight of hope, pale at first but getting stronger through the day.”
Meanwhile, Sunak has conceded defeat, saying the voters had delivered a “sobering verdict.”
With almost all the results in, Labour had won 410 seats in the 650-seat House of Commons and the Conservatives 118.
As election night rolled through the small hours, the scale of Labour’s win sharpened into focus.
A reliable exit poll published late Thursday found Labour on course to win 410 seats — just eight short of its highest-ever total.
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The Conservatives were projected to win just 131 seats, which would be the worst result in its almost 200-year history.
Labour’s victory was confirmed at around 5am when it secured the 326 seats necessary for a parliamentary majority. The precise scale of its victory is still being figured out as vote counts continue throughout the country, NBC reported.
The polls indicated a catastrophic election for the Conservatives, who were projected to win the fewest seats in their history, at 131.
Unlike the U.S., Britain has no monthslong transition.
At some point Friday morning, Starmer will head to Buckingham Palace to be appointed prime minister by King Charles III, a formality in Britain’s constitutional monarchy.
News helicopters will follow his car as it wends its way through London’s ancient streets, flanked by police outriders. It will be Charles’ first post-election prime ministerial appointment, a private meeting that typically lasts just 30 minutes.
His late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, saw 15 leaders come and go during her 70-year reign.
However, Sunak and his family will leave No. 10 Downing St., where the prime minister lives and works. Traditionally the outgoing leader leaves a handwritten note wishing his successor luck.
