Five key takeways from UK general election

Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - Results of a British general election exit poll are projected onto the BBC Broadcasting House in London July 4, 2024. — Reuters pic

LONDON, July 5 — The UK general election marks a turning point for the country with Labour returning to power after 14 years of Conservatives in Downing Street.

Here are the five biggest takeaways from a dramatic night.

Labour landslide, but not historic

Labour won 412 seats in the 650-seat parliament with only three seats left to declare, guaranteeing the centre-left party a whopping majority after 14 years in opposition.

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Keir Starmer, a 61-year-old former lawyer, will become prime minister after steering his party from one of its worst ever performances in 2019 to victory.

His party capitalised on voter anger at the outgoing Tories, particularly in the so-called “red wall” — post-industrial areas that traditionally voted Labour, but which switched Conservative in 2019.

However, contrary to polling throughout the campaign, Labour’s landslide will be less spectacular than that won by Tony Blair in 1997 (418 seats) and the party, paradoxically, looks set to win fewer votes than it did in 2019’s nadir election.

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In fact, Labour’s vote share of around 34 per cent will be the lowest ever to secure a majority, highlighting the fracturing of the opposition and the quirks of the UK’s electoral system.

Starmer will also face former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in the next parliament, who the incoming prime minister blocked from standing as a Labour candidate for his handling of accusations of anti-Semitism within the party.

The veteran left-winger stood as an independent and won and threatens to be a thorn in the side of Starmer’s government.

Hard-right breakthrough

The anti-immigration Reform UK, led by Brexit talisman Nigel Farage, fired a shot across the bows of the establishment by winning more than four million votes, the third highest vote share of any party.

The party outperformed the Conservatives in many constituencies and performed strongly in “red wall” areas, but only ended up with four seats due to the first-past-the-post voting system.

Farage, 60, was elected for the first time in the constituency of Clacton-on-Sea, south east England, and promised the result would be “just the first step of something that is going to stun all of you”.

Conservative catastrophe

“Massacre, catastrophe, Waterloo...” there was no shortage of words to describe the depths of the defeat for the Tories, who won a landslide only five years ago but looked set to be reduced to around 120 seats.

A record nine senior ministers from the outgoing government lost, although several other big names narrowly saved their seats, including finance minister Jeremy Hunt and party chairman Richard Holden, who won by 20 votes.

A final humiliation arrived in the early morning when former prime minister Liz Truss, whose 49-day rule in 2022 ended when the markets turned against her radical tax-slashing plans, lost her seat.

Next will come the brutal post-mortem, as the party decides how it will rebuild and whether it tacks to the right or centre.

Scottish nationalists in crisis

The Scottish nationalists suffered a terrible evening, with former first minister and independence figurehead Nicola Sturgeon admitting that “it’s not a good night” for the Scottish National Party (SNP).

The party has dominated Scottish politics for 15 years but has now ceded control to Labour and been relegated from third to fourth place in Westminster after returning just nine MPs, compared to 48 at the last election.

It is still under investigation over its financing and now has no clear strategy to win independence from the UK, a dream that seemed revived after the Brexit vote.

Lib Dem comeback

The return of the pro-EU Lib Dems as the third largest party and a major force in Westminster is one of the election’s more unlikely stories following its dismal showing in 2019.

Winning more than 70 seats, the party enjoyed its best ever result, eclipsing its success in the early 2000s that led it to forming a coalition government with the Conservatives between 2010 and 2015.

The party also benefited from the rejection of the Conservatives by more liberal and centrist voters, who were turned off by its rightward drift following the Brexit vote. — AFP