Rishi Sunak concedes defeat as Labour Party heads for sweeping UK election victory

By: CNN

Posted: Jul 4, 2024 5:20 PM CDT
Updated: Jul 5, 2024 12:20 AM CDT

Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto/Getty Images via CNN Newsource

By Rob Picheta

London (CNN) — Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak conceded defeat to the opposition Labour Party as voters in the UK general election delivered a devastating verdict on 14 years of Conservative rule.

As results poured in from around the UK, the center-left Labour Party was on course to win Britain’s general election by a landslide. Party leader Keir Starmer celebrated the victory in front of supporters at the Tate Modern art gallery in London. “Change begins now. It feels good, I have to be honest,” he said.

Sunak said he had called Starmer to congratulate him, and added that he took personal responsibility for the crushing defeat. “I am sorry,” Sunak said after becoming one of a lonely band of Conservative figures to retain their seats.

An exit poll predicted that Labour would win 410 seats, while the Conservatives will drop to just 131 seats, a rejection of the ruling party by Britain’s electorate that had been anticipated for months.

“The Labour Party has won this general election,” Sunak said. “The British people have delivered a sobering verdict tonight. There is much to learn and reflect on, and I take responsibility for the loss,” he said.

Reform UK, an insurgent rightwing populist party led by Nigel Farage, was on course to take a handful of seats – and split the right-wing vote around the country, contributing to the Conservatives’ defeat. “This, folks, is huge,” Farage said in video message, shortly before it was announced he had won his first seat in the UK parliament.

The expected results fall short of some, more dramatic predictions made by pollsters during the campaign. But they mark a severe collapse by the Tories since the last election, in 2019, when former Prime Minister Boris Johnson led the party to a landslide victory.

Since then the party has descended into a bitter internal war, slumping from leader to leader and scandal to scandal. Recriminations were already underway in the early hours of Friday morning, with high-profile figures in the party giving starkly different explanations for the defeat.

Starmer pinned his disciplined campaign on a one-word promise – “Change” – and benefited from a woeful Tory pitch that failed to reverse the public’s deep reservations about their performance.

The Liberal Democrats were forecast to win 61 seats, according to the exit poll, and will return as Britain’s third-strongest party in Westminster.

Starmer, a former barrister who entered parliament in 2015 and has dragged his party towards the center ground since taking over as leader in 2020, has pledged to revive Britain’s flagging public services while keeping a tight lid on expenditure.

His victory provides an antidote to a rise of populist sentiment across Europe.

But populism played a part in the story of the campaign. The insurgent Reform UK group, tore away voters from the Conservatives on an anti-migration pitch, while the Tories lost centrist support in England’s affluent southern regions to the Lib Dems.

Starmer seems set to win fewer seats than Tony Blair did in his 1997 landslide – the last time Labour ousted the Conservatives in an election – but he will rule with a strong parliamentary majority.

While he does, a battle will rage for control of the opposition. Right-wing Tories have made overtures towards Farage’s bloc during the campaign, but have faced opposition from moderate Conservatives keen to once again moor the party in Britain’s political center.

On key foreign policy issues, including Britain’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the handover of power is not expected to change policy; Starmer has committed to continuing Britain’s supportive stance towards Kyiv.

He has called for a ceasefire in Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, and a simultaneous return of Israeli hostages held by the militant group.

This story has been updated with additional information.