UK Election 2024: Rishi Sunak’s Tories set for major defeat, Keir Starmer eyes PM post | Top updates

The centre-left Labour Party leader, Keir Starmer, who headed the fiery election campaign for the party, is expected to be the next prime minister of the UK. Labour is on course to win about 410 seats in the 650-seat House of Commons and the Conservatives 131, according to the exit poll. That would be the fewest seats for the Tories in their nearly two-century history and would leave the party in disarray.

There are a total of 650 seats in the UK parliament, and a political party needs over 326 seats to establish a majority.

Seeing a turbulent couple of years in governance, the Conservative Party was marred with controversies in their most recent term in power. The change in the prime minister, the crumbling economy and Covid-19 management became some of the top issues for voters in the polls, leading to the likely ouster of Rishi Sunak’s government.

UK Election 2024: Top points

• The Labour Party, led by their PM face Keir Starmer, has established victory on 10 seats till now, while the Conservative Party has failed to lead on even a single seat out of the total 650 constituencies.
• The main political parties in the fray are the Labour Party, the Conservative Party, the Liberal Democrats, the Reform UK, the Scottish National Party (SNP), and the Green Party.
• According to the exit poll predictions, Labour is on track to win around 410 seats, while PM Rishi Sunak’s Tories may win 131 seats. The Liberal Democrat Party is likely to win over 60 seats, while other parties may win over 45 seats in the elections.
• Under Keir Starmer’s Labour government, party leader Angela Rayner will likely be given the deputy prime minister post, while economist Rachel Reeves is expected to be the finance minister, a post formerly held by PM Rishi Sunak.
• According to exit poll data on campaigning, 38 per cent of Britons believe that the Conservative Party ran the worst election campaign of all, while only 8 per cent were disappointed in the Labour campaign, said YouGov.
• During the Tory campaign, Rishi Sunak focused on the economic recovery in the UK under his 20-month reign, saying that a shift in the government would lead to risks for the economy.
• Meanwhile, Keir Starmer-led Labour Party highlighted the controversies involving former PM Boris Johnson, the mismanagement in the Covid-19 pandemic and worker rights issues during their election campaign.
• The final results of the election will be out in the early hours of Friday, with the prime minister likely to be declared before noon.