UK Election

UK general election: Polls open with Labour on course for historic victory

Tory prime minister Rishi Sunak says he will take responsibility for the result, which could cost half his cabinet their seats in parliament

UK election: Keir Starmer: looks set to lead Labour to a historic victory in the British general election. Photograph: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire

Mark Paul London Correspondent
Thu Jul 4 2024 - 07:34

Britons are voting on Thursday in a general election that polls suggest will end 14 years of Tory rule and hand Labour the biggest win by any party in almost 200 years, surpassing even Tony Blair’s 1997 landslide victory.

The Conservative party under prime minister Rishi Sunak is predicted to lose more than 70 per cent of its seats while half of his cabinet face ejection from the House of Commons, according to the final poll of the campaign by YouGov researchers.

Mr Sunak said he would take full responsibility for the result, with some Tories worried that even his seat might be under threat. No sitting prime minister has lost their seat in British electoral history.

Labour leader Keir Starmer now seems certain to replace Mr Sunak in Downing Street on Friday. He promised to “rise to the challenge” and provide Britain with “progressive answers” to its problems should his party win.

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Even Tory ministers acknowledged the electorate was about to hand them a historic beating. Mel Stride, the work and pensions secretary and a close ally of Mr Sunak, said Britain was “on the brink of, probably, the largest landslide we have ever seen in this country”.

According to YouGov, it could certainly be the largest since 1832.

Its poll of 40,000 voters predicted Labour would end up with a majority of over 200 by more than doubling its number of seats to 431, while the Tories would be reduced to 102.

The Liberal Democrats also seemed on course for the party’s best showing at a general election with up to 72 seats. The Scottish National Party, however, faces a potentially dire result, with as few as 18 MPs predicted, down from the 48 it won in 2019.

Nigel Farage’s anti-immigration Reform UK party was predicted to win three seats including Clacton in Essex, sending Mr Farage to the House of Commons at the eighth time of asking.

Conservative government heavyweights who could lose their seats include defence secretary Grant Shapps, chancellor of the exchequer Jeremy Hunt and leadership hopeful, Penny Mordaunt. Former prime minister Liz Truss is also believed to be in a battle to save her seat in Norfolk.

Mark Paul

Mark Paul

Mark Paul is London Correspondent for The Irish Times

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