On Friday, British voters said out the old and in the new, handing the keys to the castle to Rishi Sunak’s Conservative Party, which lost nearly 250 seats in the 650-seat House of Commons.
Mr Starmer and his ‘new’ Labour Party will now form the next government. Addressing a cheering crowd of party supporters at an early morning victory rally in central London, he declared that Britain had “got its future back”.
The scale of the Tories’ defeat is extraordinary; after 14 years in power, the party has suffered crushing defeats in Wales and Scotland, and lost some of its biggest leaders, including former prime minister Liz Truss.
Labor wins big
But in perhaps the most shocking blow of all – the BBC reports that the Conservative Party has lost seats in England’s shire counties that they had held since the 19th or early 20th century. For example, Labour’s Joe Morris defeated Tory Guy Opperman, ending the Tories’ 100-year hold on the Hexham seat.
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The Conservatives are set to suffer their worst ever general election performance, while Labour are set to have their best ever with over 400 seats. Exit polls had made similar predictions, with Mr Starmer projected to win 405 seats.
The fall of the Conservatives
Outgoing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called for an early election in May.
The warning signs were there right away; in fact, they had been there for weeks, if not months, beforehand, as British voters grappled with rising costs of living, a growing immigration problem, poor infrastructure and health care, among other issues, and the Conservative Party had serious image problems.
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At the time the Conservatives – seeking permission from the British public to appoint their sixth prime minister since 2010 – were already 20 points behind a resurgent Labour, but Mr Sunak believed he could close the gap and improve. Unfortunately, that did not happen.
Why did Labour beat the Conservatives?
Take your pick. But the state of the NHS, or National Health Service, and concerns about the state of the economy and price rises are high on the list of reasons for defeat.
A survey conducted in June by the Ipsos Issues Index said that concerns over cuts in funding to the NHS (a free public healthcare scheme any other country would want to adopt) topped the list, followed by the economy, immigration, price rises, housing and schools, defence and counter-terrorism, and crime.
Mr Sunak got poor marks on all of these counts, including the country’s lowest growth rate since the early 19th century and a sharp rise in the cost of living, the highest in 41 years.
British Economy The pace of development has slowed down significantly in the last decade, even taking into account the global crisis caused by the Covid pandemic. From 2007 to 2023, GDP per capita has grown by just 4.3 percent.
In the previous 16 years, this figure was 46 per cent.
Some relief soon appeared; in May the International Monetary Fund spoke of a “soft landing” for the economy, and raised its growth forecast by 0.2 percentage points to 0.7.
And perhaps based on this hope, Mr Sunak called for early elections.
the nhs Many consider it the crown of the British government’s public services.
Funding for Britain’s national free healthcare scheme, the NHS, has been a major issue (File).
The Conservatives had repeatedly stressed the importance of the NHS, but this concern did not translate into grassroots support for doctors, nurses and medical professionals.
Budgetary allocations under the Tories paint a clearer picture. Healthcare spending has grown by an average of 2.8 per cent per year since they came to power in 2010, compared with 3.6 per cent over the past 50 years, including pandemic periods.
In April an estimated 7.6 million people were waiting for treatment under the NHS scheme, with more than 50,000 on the list for more than a year. The average waiting time was 14 weeks.
The number of people waiting for medical help, including those in serious condition, has tripled under Conservative rule, according to NHS data published by Al Jazeera.
Brexit also played its part, with restrictions on movement meaning medical professionals from mainland Europe either couldn’t be hired or didn’t want to sign up. As dire as this sounds, it was good news for India, as the NHS turned to its former colony to fill more than 2,000 doctor positions.
immigration This was also an issue. Mr Sunak’s government had promised to crack down on those entering the UK illegally, but his Rwanda policy – which was supposed to act as a major deterrent – failed.
In fact, two years after its announcement, not a single flight has even taken off for the African country.
According to Sky News, the Conservatives have spent more than £300 million on the plan, which they say will stop illegal immigrants entering the UK on small boats across the English Channel.
Those apprehended under this policy would be sent to Rwanda while they continued to apply for asylum.
As of the end of March, a total of 1.18 lakh people were waiting for a preliminary decision on their application.
Growth the cost of living and touching the sky House pricesstanding at the same time Increase in rental pricesThis, too, has been a problem that the Conservatives do not seem able to control.
Truss, Johnson’s contribution
It was not just Mr Sunak’s failings that caused the Conservatives’ downfall.
Boris Johnson was elected as leader of the Tories and prime minister in July 2019, shortly before the pandemic struck. His disheveled appearance and disorganised leadership prompted a rebellion from his ministers and, of course, the ‘Partygate’ scandal, which referred to parties at 10, Downing Street during lockdown.
Mr Johnson resigned in June last year following an investigation which he described as a “witch hunt”.
The last three Conservative Party prime ministers – Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss and Boris Johnson (file).
He is followed by Ms Truss – who is Britain’s fourth female prime minister and its shortest-serving leader.
Ms Truss – who lost her South West Norfolk seat – has faced criticism for the way she handled the economy, including a controversial mini-budget which led to market turmoil. Her leadership has been further weakened by a string of U-turns on policy and a lack of trust among MPs.
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