Britain’s Labour Party leader Keir Starmer gives a thumbs up to his supporters after he was elected for the Holborn and St Pancras constituency, in London, Friday, July 5, 2024. Britain’s Labour Party appears to be headed for a huge majority in the 2024 UK election, an exit poll suggested. The poll released moments after voting closed indicated that Labour leader Keir Starmer will be the country’s next prime minister.
A man and his dog walk towards Falwell windmill and mill which is a temporary polling station in Sunderland, England, Thursday, July 4, 2024.Britain goes to the polls Thursday after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called a general election. Nigel Farage, leader of the Reform UK party speaks from inside a jeep during an electoral rally at Clacton Pier in Clacton-on-Sea, England, Wednesday, July 3, 2024. United Kingdom voters will cast ballots in a national election Thursday, passing judgment on Sunak’s 20 months in office, and on the four Conservative prime ministers before him.
People walk from Falwell windmill and mill which is a temporary polling station, after casting their vote in Sunderland, England, Thursday, July 4, 2024.Britain goes to the polls Thursday after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called a general election. Ballot boxes are emptied at Silkworth Community Pool Tennis & Wellness Centre in Sunderland, England, during the count for the 2024 General Election, Thursday, July 4, 2024. Britain’s Labour Party was headed for a huge majority in Britain’s election on Thursday, an exit poll suggested.
Speaking as drawn broke in London, he said Labour would offer “the sunlight of hope, pale at first but getting stronger though the day.”“Nothing has gone well in the last 14 years,” said London voter James Erskine, who was optimistic for change in the hours before polls closed. “I just see this as the potential for a seismic shift, and that’s what I’m hoping for.”
While the result appears to buck recent rightward electoral shifts in Europe, including in France and Italy, many of those same populist undercurrents flow in Britain. Reform UK leaderhas roiled the race with his party’s anti-immigrant “take our country back” sentiment and undercut support for the Conservatives, who already faced dismal prospects.
In a sign of the volatile public mood and anger at the system, some smaller parties picked up millions of votes, including the centristand Farage’s Reform UK. Farage won his race in the seaside town of Clacton-on-Sea, securing a seat in Parliament on his eighth attempt, and Reform has won four seats so far.