London — Britain’s Labour Party swept to power Friday after more than a decade in opposition, thanks to a landslide victory for a jaded electorate but also a daunting task of reinvigorating a stagnant economy and a demoralized nation. Keir Starmer officially becomes Prime Minister later Friday, returning his party to government less than five years after suffering its worst defeat in nearly a century.
In the ruthless choreography of British politics, he took charge of 10 Downing Street hours after Thursday’s votes were counted – as Conservative leader Rishi Sunak rushed out.
With the exception of two individual results, Labour won 412 seats in the 650-seat House of Commons and the Conservatives 121.
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“With a mandate like this comes great responsibility,” Starmer acknowledged in a speech to supporters, saying the fight to regain people’s trust after years of disillusionment “is the defining battle of our time.”
Speaking at dawn in London, he said Labour would offer “the sunlight of hope, faint at first but growing stronger as the day goes on”.
Sunak conceded defeat, saying voters had delivered a “sobering verdict”. Speaking later outside 10 Downing Street for the last time as leader of the country, Sunak took personal responsibility for his party’s devastating defeat.
“First of all, I am sorry,” Sunak said. “I gave everything I had to this job, but you have sent a clear signal that the government of the United Kingdom must change, and your judgment is the only one that matters. I have heard your anger, your disappointment, and I take responsibility for this loss.”
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For Starmer, it is a massive triumph that will bring enormous challenges, as he faces a weary electorate impatient for change against a grim backdrop of economic malaise, growing distrust of institutions and the fraying of the social fabric.
“Nothing has gone right in the last 14 years,” said James Erskine, a London voter who expressed optimism about change in the hours before polls closed. “I just see the potential for radical change, and that’s what I hope for.”
And that’s what Starmer promised, declaring that “change starts now.”
As thousands of poll workers counted millions of ballot papers at counting centres across the country, the Conservatives absorbed the shock of a historic defeat that will leave the weakened party in disarray and likely trigger a contest to replace Sunak as leader.
While the result runs counter to recent electoral shifts to the right in Europe, notably in France and Italy, many populist undercurrents are echoed in the UK. The leader of Britain’s Reform Party, Nigel Farage, disrupted the campaign with his party’s anti-immigrant “bringing our country back” sentiment and weakened support for the Conservatives, who were already facing bleak prospects.
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One of the big unknowns heading into the election was whether Farage’s far-right party would be able to translate its success into a handful of seats in parliament. With virtually all constituencies reporting results by Friday, Reform had won four seats, fewer than the exit poll predicted the night before, but a victory for a relatively new party that had none before the election.
Although the UK electoral system makes it difficult for smaller parties to win parliamentary seats, Reform’s overall vote share rose to a significant 15%, making it the third most popular party at Thursday’s polls despite the distribution of seats in the House of Commons, and underlining the challenge for the two main parties, both of which lost seats to Farage’s Reform.
Speaking to CBS News on Friday morning, London Mayor Sadiq Khan, a Labour politician, acknowledged the rise of “nationalist and nativist grassroots movements” and said Starmer would try to show that he was governing “in the national interest. Be humble. Be magnanimous and humble over the next three, four, five years. We have to earn the trust of
those who voted Labour, but also trying to gain the trust of those who didn’t.
Former Conservative leader William Hague acknowledged the results were “a catastrophic outcome in historical terms for the Conservative Party”.
Britain has endured a turbulent series of years, some of which were the Conservatives’ own doing, some of which were not, leaving many voters pessimistic about the future of their country. Britain’s exit from the European Union, followed by the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, battered the economy, while parties thrown by then-prime minister Boris Johnson and his team in breach of lockdown measures sparked widespread anger.
Johnson’s successor, Liz Truss, further dented the economy with a package of drastic tax cuts and lasted just 49 days in power. Rising poverty and cuts to public services prompted criticism of a “broken Britain”.
Hundreds of communities have found themselves engaged in close-fought struggles in which traditional party loyalties take second place to more immediate concerns about the economy, collapsing infrastructure and the National Health Service.
In Henley-on-Thames, about 40 miles west of London, voters like retired Patricia Mulcahy sensed the nation was looking for something different. The community, which usually votes Conservative, could change course this time.
“The younger generation is much more interested in change,” Mulcahy said. “So I think whatever happens in Henley, in the country, there will be a big change. But whoever gets elected will have a big job ahead of them. It won’t be easy.”
Anand Menon, professor of European politics and foreign affairs at King’s College London, said British voters were about to see a marked change in the political atmosphere from the tumultuous “pantomime politics” of recent years.
“I think we are going to have to get used to a relatively stable government again, with ministers who stay in power for a relatively long time and with a government that is able to think beyond the very short term and set medium-term goals,” he said.
Within the first hour of polling stations opening, Sunak made the short journey from his home to cast his ballot at the village hall in Kirby Sigston, in the north of England. He arrived with his wife, Akshata Murty, and walked hand in hand into the village hall, surrounded by rolling fields.
Hours later, Starmer went to a polling station in north London with his wife, Victoria, to cast his vote.
Labour has failed to generate much enthusiasm with its promises to revive a sluggish economy, invest in infrastructure and make Britain a “clean energy superpower”.
But Starmer’s campaign has not gone badly. The party has won the support of much of the business community and backers of traditionally conservative newspapers, including the Rupert Murdoch-owned Sun tabloid, which praised Starmer for “bringing his party back to the centre of British politics.”
The Conservatives, meanwhile, have been plagued by gaffes. The campaign got off to an inauspicious start when Sunak was soaked by rain as he made his announcement outside 10 Downing Street. Then, Sunak returned home early after attending commemorations in France marking the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings.
Several Conservatives close to Sunak are under investigation over suspicions of using inside information to bet on the election date before it was announced.
Sunak has struggled to shake off the stain of political chaos and mismanagement that has built up around the Conservatives.
But for many voters, the lack of trust applies not just to the ruling party, but to politicians in general.
“I don’t know who’s for me as a worker,” said Michelle Bird, a port worker in Southampton on England’s south coast who was undecided about whether to vote Labour or Conservative in the days leading up to the election. “I don’t know if it’s the devil you know or the devil you don’t know.”
