UK Election Results: 5th July 2024
Keir Starmer formally appointed as Britain’s new PM after meeting King Charles
Keir Starmer, the Labour Party leader, has been officially appointed as Britain’s new prime minister following a ceremonial ‘kissing of hands’ with King Charles III.
Keir Starmer, the Labour Party leader, has been officially appointed as Britain’s new prime minister following a ceremonial ‘kissing of hands’ with King Charles III.
Starmer met King Charles following his landslide victory in Thursday’s parliamentary election. With Labour’s resounding election win, Starmer becomes the first leader of a center-left party to win a national election in the United Kingdom since Tony Blair, who did so three times in a row beginning in 1997.
In a landslide victory, the U.K.’s Labour Party, led by Keir Starmer, secured 412 (+211) seats in the 650-seat House of Commons, while the Conservative Party, led by retiring Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, lost 121 (-250) seats.
With Labour receiving 35% of the vote and the Conservatives receiving 24%, the vote shares nevertheless confirmed the Conservative defeat while painting a picture of a more restrained victory for Labour. In opinion polls, Labour had routinely outperformed the Conservatives by 20 points.
The country’s monarch, King Charles III, named Mr. Starmer the new prime minister of the United Kingdom after Labour won the election. Keir Starmer says the UK will be rebuilt. Speaking to the public outside Downing Street following his appointment as prime minister “Our work is urgent, and we begin it today,” stated Mr. Starmer. He went on, “But have no doubt, we will rebuild Britain”, Mr. Starmer paid tribute to Mr. Sunak, who was appointed prime minister and leader of the Conservative Party in October 2022.
Rishi Sunak is out of the 10 Downing Street to make way for Labour’s Keir Starmer. Britain has handed a spectacular victory to Keir Starmer’s Labour Party, which has ended the 14-year rule of the Conservatives. The outgoing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has accepted defeat, saying “sorry” to his party candidates.
More women reach Parliament
British voters have elected more women to Parliament than they did in 2019.
At least 242 female MPs will be in the House of Commons. This breaks the record set in 2019 when 220 women were elected to Parliament.
The UK has seen an upward trend in the election of women MPs. In 2015, the number was 196, which further rose to 207 in 2017.