The UK woke today to a Labour government for the first time in 14 years, following a historic landslide defeat for the Conservative Party.
The Labour leader and soon-to-be Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in his victory speech: “We did it, you campaigned for it, you fought for it, you voted for it, and now it has arrived. Change begins now.
“Across our country, people will be waking up to the news, relieved that a weight has been lifted, a burden finally removed from the shoulders of this great nation.
“Now we can look forward, walk into the morning, the sunlight of hope, pale at first but getting stronger through the day, shining once again on a country with the opportunity after 14 years to get its future back.”
Deputy Leader Angela Rayner also made an impassioned speech after regaining her seat in Ashton-under-Lyne earlier in the night.
She told her constituents: “From the first day you placed your trust in me, it’s been a great privilege to represent you in Parliament. I’m proud to have support right across our community but I’ll never take it for granted.
“So let me say to all those parents doing the most important job there is, raising the next generation, to the small businesses that tirelessly toll every day in the engine room of our economy, to the working people who are the bedrock of our country, there is no greater honour than to serve you.”
After holding onto his seat, shortly before Labour achieved the necessary 326 seats, outgoing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak conceded that the result of the election was already certain.
With 412 seats and counting, the landslide victory hails a new dawn for the Labour Party, which suffered its worst defeat since 1935 at the last election.
Amid a slew of notable gains across the country, Labour ousted a number of big names in the Conservative Party, including Liz Truss, Grant Shapps and Penny Mordaunt.
Despite the historic victory, the party did endure disappointing defeats in some areas.
Among these were Chingford and Woodford Green and Islington North, after Starmer controversially kicked former Labour MPs Faiza Shaheen and Jeremy Corbyn out of the party prior to the election, forcing them to run as independents.
In vote share terms, Labour only secured 34% of total votes, only narrowly surpassing Jeremy Corbyn’s 32% vote share in his notorious 2019 defeat.
Pollster Sir John Curtice told the BBC: “This looks more like an election the Conservatives have lost than one Labour have won.”
Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats enjoyed their best result for over a hundred years under leader Ed Davey.
Davey, who earlier in the night retained his seat in Kingston and Surbiton, told Lib Dem party workers: “During this campaign I’ve told you about my own story of caring, and being a carer, for much of my life, and I want to thank all the people who’ve responded in such generosity.
“I promise you, having put it at the heart of our agenda, we are now going to work on health and care.”
