2024-07-08 21:54:09
The new British Prime Minister, the Labour Party’s Keir Starmer, promised on Friday to “rebuild” the countryfollowing the resounding victory of his centre-left party in the legislative elections, which put an end to 14 years of conservative governments.
“The work for change begins immediately“But have no doubt, we will rebuild the United Kingdom,” he declared in his first speech from the official residence of Downing Street.
Labour leader Keir Starmer, 61had been received shortly before at Buckingham Palace by King Charles III, who asked him to form a government and officially named him Prime Minister.
“Our country has now voted decisively for change, for national renewal,” said Starmer, who then proceeded to form his cabinet.
He appointed Rachel Reeves as head of the Economy portfolio, the first woman to hold that position in the countryand as head of diplomacy, David Lammy, a lawyer descended from slaves of Guyanese origin.
In his first statements, Lammy called for an “immediate ceasefire” in the war between Israel and the Islamist Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip.
The deputies of two constituencies are yet to be known, Labour won 412 of the 650 seats in the House of Commons and 33.7% of the votesurpassing the threshold of 326 to obtain an absolute majority.
The Conservatives of defeated Prime Minister Rishi Sunak won 121 seats (23.7%) compared to 365 five years ago under Boris Johnson. This is the lowest figure in an election since the party was founded in 1834.
– Conservative debacle –
The Labour leader will take his first steps on the international stage next week at a NATO summit in Washington.
After the debacle, Sunak announced his resignation as head of the party.
“Following this result, I will step down as party leader, not immediately, but once everything is in place to appoint my successor,” he said.
The far-right party Reform UK, led by Nigel Farage, one of the driving forces behind Brexit, entered Parliament with four seats.
Farage, with just over 14.3% of the vote, took many votes away from the conservatives and became the third most voted force.ahead of the centrist Liberal Democratic Party (12.2%), which won 71 seats.
– Turn to the center –
Despite his comfortable victory, Keir Starmer did not surpass the record of Labour MPs (418) obtained by Tony Blair in 1997, when he ended 18 years of Conservative governments.
Starmer, who has moved his party toward more centrist positions following Labour’s defeat of his more left-leaning predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn, in the 2019 election, campaigned for less radical “change.”
He promised cautious management of the economywithin a long-term growth plan that includes strengthening criticized public services, particularly the health system.
Corbyn, 74, who was expelled from the Labour Party after being accused of anti-Semitic views, was re-elected as an independent candidate.
– Defeat of conservative heavyweights –
While the Conservative leader was able to secure his seat in Parliament, this was not the case for other heavyweights in the party, such as his predecessor as Prime Minister, Liz Truss, or the Minister for Defence, Grant Shapps, and the Minister for Culture, Lucy Frazer.
Sunak leaves office less than two years after being appointed prime ministerin October 2022, when he took over after a disastrous economic mandate of just 49 days by Truss, who had replaced Boris Johnson caught up in the scandal surrounding parties at his official residence during the covid-19 pandemic.
He Conservative Partywith internal struggles and plunged into a deep crisishad been in power since May 2010, first with David Cameron, followed by Theresa May and then Johnson.
He BrexitIn 2020, Covid-19, rising living costs and the criticised functioning of the health service took their toll on the Conservatives.
Following Sunak’s allegations that a Labour victory “It would mean higher taxes for a generation,” Starmer insisted that he would only raise taxes on certain taxpayers, including private schools and companies in the hydrocarbon sector, but not on workers.
Keir Starmer has already announced that he will abandon the conservative project to charter planes to Rwanda with illegal migrants to combat the mass arrival of people across the English Channel, which separates England and France.
2024-07-08 21:54:09