Labour’s Keir Starmer claims victory in UK election

“I have given my heart and soul to this job but you have sent a clear signal that the British government must change and your judgement is what matters most,” he said.

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This outcome is likely to resonate around the world, with political power returning to internationalist centre-left parties against the backdrop of the rise of right-wing populists in many countries.

But turnout is expected to be around 60%, a 7% drop and close to historic lows, suggesting widespread public dissatisfaction with mainstream politics.

Labour received about 34% of the vote, a historic low for a winning party, while the Conservatives fell to 23%, eroded by Nigel Farage’s insurgent populist Reform Britain, which received 15% of the vote.

After six weeks of mistakes and self-inflicted setbacks, the Conservatives are expected to win fewer than 130 seats, down more than 230 from the 365 they won at the last election. Their worst result was 156 seats in the 1906 general election.

Senior Conservatives who lost their seats include former British Prime Minister Liz Truss, Defense Secretary Grant Shapps, House of Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt, Justice Secretary Alex Chalk, Education Secretary Gillian Keegan, Culture Secretary Lucy Fraser, Science Secretary Michelle Donaldson, and Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, one of the architects of Brexit.

Foreign leaders began congratulating Starmer, with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese posting on social media platform X: “Congratulations to my friend, the new British Prime Minister (Keir Starmer) on his resounding election victory,” he wrote. “I look forward to working constructively with the incoming (Labor) government.”

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called Starmer’s victory historic, while Israeli President Isaac Herzog said he looked forward to deepening the “close friendship between Israel and the United Kingdom.”

Labour won a large number of seats thanks to the rise of the Reform Party, which split the right-wing vote and punished the Conservatives under Britain’s first-past-the-post electoral system. Farage won his first seat in the House of Commons in his eighth election.

“There is a huge void on the centre-right in British politics and my job is to fill that void and that is exactly what I will do,” Farage said after the result in Clacton-on-Sea was announced.

“My plan is to build a massive national movement over the next few years and hopefully be large enough to aggressively challenge in the 2029 election.”

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Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who was expelled from the party after 41 years as an MP, stood as an independent candidate in Islington North and won a shocking victory.

He defeated Labour candidate Praful Nargund by 24,120 votes to 16,873 and said: “This result for me is a loud message from the people of Islington that they want something different, they want something better.”

Labour also lost to pro-Palestinian independent candidates, including two seats held by campaign spokesman Jonathan Ashworth, suggesting Starmer’s stance on Israel’s war with Hamas has hurt his party’s support among many Muslim voters.

With agencies

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