Labour points to historic UK majority after 14 years of Conservative rule

Labour’s lead in the polls is so overwhelming that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has stopped campaigning, asking for votes not to win but to create a “strong opposition”.

If there was any doubt that the Conservatives were resigned to the expected defeat, they were dispelled on Wednesday morning by Labour Secretary Mel Stride. “I fully accept that we are going to have a landslide victory for the Labour Party, probably the largest majority this country has ever seen. What matters now is what kind of opposition we have, what our ability to control the government in Parliament will be,” a Conservative official told the BBC.

Sunak, for his part, has pledged to “fight for every vote” and cited research showing that if the Conservatives can secure 130,000 votes in certain constituencies, they could potentially break a Labour majority. “For all the voters who think this is over – no, it’s not over,” stressed the outgoing prime minister, whose guarantees of economic recovery have been insufficient to convince an electorate fed up with austerity measures, deteriorating public services – particularly in health and education – and the government’s failure to tackle issues such as insecurity and immigration.

Labour has warned voters not to be fooled by the Conservatives’ early defeat into believing victory is assured. “If you want change, you have to vote for it. We can’t take anything for granted,” Keir Starmer warned on the final day of the campaign.

Sunak could lose his seat in the House of Commons
Outgoing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak could make history as the first sitting head of government to lose his seat in the House of Commons. In 2019, Sunak was elected for the Richmond and Northallerton constituency in North Yorkshire with a 63% majority and more than 27,000 votes.

However, a recent poll suggests Sunak could now lose his seat to Labour candidate Tom Wilson, who is slightly ahead of the prime minister in voting intentions. But Sunak may not be alone: ​​polls suggest eleven ministers from the outgoing government could be excluded from the next parliament, including Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt and Defence Secretary Grant Shapps.

Former Prime Minister Did Not Praise His Successor
Former Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who secured the party’s last major election victory in 2022, only appeared on the campaign trail on Tuesday night. Johnson attended Sunak’s rally in London, but the animosity between the two was notorious. They did not greet each other or appear on stage together, and Johnson did not praise or mention his successor’s policies, confining himself to reminiscing about his own successes and warning that Labour was preparing to “take a sledgehammer to everything”.

DETAILS
Blair’s Record
Most polls suggest the Labour Party could break the record for the largest parliamentary majority, achieved by Tony Blair in 1997 with 418 MPs.

“Everything is over”
Former minister Suella Braverman has warned that Conservatives must brace themselves for “the frustrating reality of opposition”. “It’s over,” he says.

Brexit is missing
The economy and immigration were dominant themes of the campaign, but Brexit was barely mentioned, despite Starmer’s sympathies for the single market.