On Thursday, July 4, our cousins across the pond elected a new Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, in their general election. Starmer’s Labour Party won in a landslide against the Conservative Party, upending 14 years of Tory domination in UK government.
Keir Starmer will become the fourth new Prime Minister in four years. It’s a reminder that we in the United States are not alone in the political disorder currently sweeping through democracies worldwide.
This entry will focus on the recent UK general election. First, I will provide a criminally simplified description of UK General Election procedures. Next, I will highlight key events in recent UK Prime Minister administrations. Finally, I will discuss the results of the recent UK election and provide an analysis explaining why Labour won so decisively.
How UK Elections Work
Apologies to any UK readers, but here is a brief primer on how UK General Elections work.
A general election is where citizens vote for their members of Parliament. Parliament is the main legislative body in the UK that creates laws. In a general election, all 650 seats in Parliament are contested. Traditionally, citizens vote on a Thursday.
The term of a Parliament is five years. After five years, Parliament is dissolved, and there is another general election.
Prime Ministers can dissolve Parliament and call for an election within the five-year term. This is called a snap election. Rishi Sunak, the UK’s previous Prime Minister, called for a snap election on May 22, 2024.
If Sunak had not called for the snap election, the parliamentary term would have naturally ended in January 2025 because the previous general election was in December 2019. The snap election resets the five-year parliamentary term, setting the next natural end date of this Parliament at 2029.
Recent Prime Ministers in Brief
The last decade has been a turbulent time in UK politics. Since David Cameron resigned in 2016, there have been six different Prime Ministers to date.
David Cameron (2010-2016)
In 2015, David Cameron and the Tories won a general election with a strong majority. Cameron was Prime Minister during the Brexit referendum. Brexit has been the major political event of recent UK history. Cameron opposed Britain leaving the European Union. In 2016, he resigned due to the outcome of the referendum.
Theresa May (2016-2019)
The Tories elected Theresa May as leader after Cameron’s resignation. In 2017, May began the Brexit process by triggering Article 50, which governs the formal process for leaving the EU. However, May resigned in 2019 after failing to pass her EU Withdrawal Agreement, which outlined a Brexit with some specific ties to the EU.
Boris Johnson (2019-2022)
The Tories elected Boris Johnson as leader after Theresa May’s resignation in 2019. Later that year, Johnson called for a snap election and won with a significant majority. Johnson took this as a mandate to execute his Brexit plan, which entailed fewer ties to the EU. Johnson was Prime Minister during COVID-19 and was caught up in several scandals, leading to his resignation.
Liz Truss (September 6, 2022 – October 25, 2022)
The Tories elected Liz Truss as leader after Boris Johnson’s resignation. Her term was the shortest of any Prime Minister in UK history, lasting only 50 days. The UK was in economic trouble coming out of COVID-19. Truss’s economic policies were disastrous and caused the market to decline due to uncertainty. She resigned due to the chaos her strategies caused.
Rishi Sunak (2022 – 2024)
The Tories elected Rishi Sunak as leader after Liz Truss’s resignation. Sunak inherited a Tory Party in crisis. He faced domestic economic issues, immigration problems, and international challenges. He did his best to right the ship of state, but regard for the Tories was at a historic low. On May 22, 2024, Sunak called for a snap election.
Sunak’s Snap Election
Sunak called for a snap election for several reasons. First, the Tories were falling in all the polls. This was an indication of the public’s dislike for his government’s actions. Sunak believed that if he waited any longer, his party would become even more unpopular, resulting in a more devastating defeat in the scheduled January 2025 general election.
Next, Sunak hoped that calling for an election would help the Tories. He argued that an election now would allow the Tories to run on the few successes they had achieved, thereby providing a basis for people to vote for his party.
One of these successes was recent economic indicators showing that inflation was falling. Inflation was at the lowest level in three years. Another reason he called for the election was that Sunak had lowered migration figures by 25%.
An election now would show the Tories in the best light, despite their poor polling. Sunak made a strategic decision to staunch the bleeding now instead of letting his party limp into the 2025 general election.
Election Results
Keir Starmer and his Labour Party defeated the Tories by large margins, winning 411 out of 650 seats and leaving the Tories with only 121 seats. Labour is now the majority for the first time in nearly 20 years.
The turnout was historically low, with only 60% of the electorate voting. Additionally, Labour won only 33% of the vote, with the Conservatives receiving 23%.
Why the Conservatives Lost So Badly
UK voters have lost trust and confidence in the Conservative Party. The perceived competence of the Conservatives has declined due to the failures of Brexit, economic struggles, weak Prime Ministers, immigration issues, and problems with the NHS. Additionally, people simply wanted change. The Conservatives have run the government with five different leaders in the last 10 years.
First, the promises of Brexit were never fully realized. Citizens were told they would be better off by leaving the EU and have greater control. Instead, the cost of living has increased, household budgets have decreased, and the cost of owning a home has drastically increased.
In a repudiation of Brexit, a recent poll showed that more UK citizens favored being in the EU rather than out.
Next, Liz Truss’s government weakened public confidence in the Conservatives. Her mini economic budget hurt the economy and caused the British pound to fall due to uncertainty.
The voters further penalized her by voting her out of office. Not only did she lose her seat, but Labour also picked it up, marking the first party switch in 100 years.
Additionally, while immigration is down, the Conservative’s Rwanda Plan has been criticized as unethical and illegal. The NHS remains broken, with long waiting lines and backlogs for patients needing various treatments. The promises that the Conservatives have made to address these issues remain unfulfilled.
Finally, after 14 years of one-party domination, the citizenry wanted change. They’ve clearly articulated this with the results of this election. They’ve given the mandate to Labour to fix these problems.
Time will tell whether Labour will fix the issues.