‘Change begins now’: Starmer celebrates Labour majority after 14 years in opposition
The Labour Party is ready to “restore Britain to the service of working people,” Starmer said after the election was called for the center-left party.
The victory by Labour, which easily secured the 326 seats necessary for a parliamentary majority, ends 14 years of rule by the Conservative Party, with Starmer set to succeed Sunak as prime minister.
“We did it,” Starmer told a cheering crowd in an early-morning speech in central London. “You voted for it and now it has arrived. Change begins now.”
“A weight has been lifted, a burden finally removed from the shoulders of this great nation, and now we can look forward again,” he said.
PM Sunak concedes huge Conservative defeat as he retains his seat
A grave-looking Sunak retained his seat but acknowledged it had been a “difficult night” as the opposition Labour Party looked set to win in a landslide.
“The Labour Party has won this election,” Sunak said after the results in his Yorkshire constituency of Richmond and Northallerton were announced. “I have called Starmer to congratulate him.”
“I take responsibility for the loss,” he added, apologizing to defeated Conservative candidates.
After having declared the election earlier than expected and presided over a campaign beset by scandals, PR failures and allegations of insider betting, Sunak may have led the Conservatives to their worst defeat ever, according to exit polls.
Keir Starmer leads Labour to win U.K. election in a landslide
LONDON — Britain woke up today to the scene of a political earthquake. The opposition Labour Party, after 14 years in the political wilderness, has handed a brutal defeat to the ruling Conservatives.
Party leader 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.
“We did it,” Starmer told a cheering crowd in central London. “You voted for it and now it has arrived. Change begins now.”
“A burden finally removed from the shoulders of this great nation,” he said. Now the country can “move forward again.”
