LONDON — The U.K.’s opposition Labour Party achieved a decisive victory in the general election, ousting the incumbent Conservatives after 14 years in power.
Early Friday morning, Labour secured the majority to govern independently as outgoing PM Rishi Sunak conceded defeat. Keir Starmer, the leader of the center-left Labour Party, will become the country’s next prime minister and declared victory in the early hours.
“We did it,” he said to his Labour colleagues. “You campaigned for it, you fought for it — and now it has arrived … change begins now.”
Projections indicate that Labour is on track to achieve its second-largest majority, surpassed only by former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s 179-seat majority in 1997.
On Thursday, millions of voters across England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland cast their ballots for local representatives in the 650-member House of Commons, the U.K.’s lower parliament. Ballots are still being counted, with constituencies announcing their winning candidates as soon as the votes are tallied.
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