Why Did the Britons Give Labour the Keys to Downing Street?

The centre-left Labour Party won an overwhelming parliamentary majority, while the Conservatives suffered their worst performance in the party's long history after being punished by voters due to a crisis of high living costs, poor public services, and a series of scandals.

On his part, outgoing PM Rishi Sunak officially conceded defeat in the general election and resigned as the Conservative Party leader.

Now, Keir Starmer, leader of the center-left Labour, becomes the UK’s next prime minister.

Starmer told a crowd of supporters that “the UK had the chance after 14 years to reclaim its future.”

Celebrating the victory, he said: “Change begins now. The Labour Party is ready to serve our country, ready to restore Britain to the service of working people.”

It is noteworthy that five Labour candidates were defeated by independents focusing on a pro-Palestine platform, slightly denting the party’s otherwise landslide election victory.

Landslide Victory

The Labour Party won 411 seats in Britain's 650-seat Parliament, gaining its second-largest majority after former Prime Minister Tony Blair's 179-seat majority in 1997.

According to observers, the collapse of the Conservatives, which won only 121 seats, was in the interest of the far-right Reform Party, which won 5 seats in Parliament for the first time in its history.

The Liberal Democrats achieved significant success in the elections, after winning 72 seats, which is the best result the party has achieved in years, while the Scottish National Party (SNP) won 9 seats, and other parties won 32 seats.

The SNP, led by Sir Ed Davey, captured Conservative seats across the Blue Wall in the south, becoming the third largest party in Parliament.

244 Conservative lawmakers were ousted in the crushing defeat, including former PM Liz Truss, Commons leader Penny Mordaunt, Grant Shapps, Gillian Keegan, Alex Chalk, Simon Hart, Johnny Mercer, Mark Harper, Lucy Frazer, and Jacob Rees Mogg.

Labour regained parts of the Red Wall of working-class seats in northern Britain that they had previously lost to the Conservatives in the 2019 election.

Some prominent Labour figures also failed, such as shadow Paymaster General Jonathan Ashworth, who lost to a pro-Palestine independent in Leicester South, while shadow Arts and Culture Minister Thangam Debonaire lost to the Green Party in Bristol Central.

Symbolic Defeat

Many reports highlighted the defeat of several Labour Party candidates in the general elections by independent competitors whose election campaigns were based on a pro-Palestine platform.

Although the Labour Party's position about Israel’s war on Gaza did not affect its victory in the elections, many of its candidates lost to independents who support Palestine.

Keir Starmer's stance on the Gaza war has previously caused unease among some in his party, as he faced heavy criticism for not calling for an immediate ceasefire sooner.

The Labour Party pledged in its statement to recognize the Palestinian state, and the party faced setbacks in the local elections in some areas that were previously guaranteed, especially those that include a large Muslim population.

In Leicester South in the English Midlands, Labour shadow cabinet member Jonathan Ashworth lost his seat by 979 votes to Shockat Adam, an independent candidate who made his support for Gaza a key part of his electoral pledge to voters.

In Dewsbury and Batley, the independent Iqbal Mohamed also defeated Labour incumbent Heather Iqbal.

In Blackburn, Labour incumbent Kate Hollern – who won a majority of 18,304 at the 2019 general election – lost by just 132 votes to independent candidate Adnan Hussain.

And in Birmingham Perry Barr, independent Ayoub Khan defeated Labour incumbent Khalid Mahmood by 507 votes.

In Islington North, Corbyn was reelected to the seat he has held since 1983 – but this time as an independent, rather than for Labour. 

Corbyn won 49.2% of the vote, while the Labour candidate came in second with 34.4%. 

Corbyn is a long-time supporter of Palestine, and his election platform included calling for an end to the occupation of Palestinian territories.

New Cabinet 

With a landslide victory in the July 4 election, Labour ended more than 14 consecutive years of Conservative rule, opening the door for party leader Keir Starmer to take over as prime minister.

Starmer is currently facing a difficult test to achieve the reform promises he put forward in his electoral program, most notably in the areas of public health, the economy, education, defense, and immigration.

On his first day in office, the new UK PM decided to stop implementing the plan to deport migrants to Rwanda.

Reports expected that the issue of illegal immigration would be one of the main priorities of the new government, given the expected increase in small boats crossing the English Channel during the summer.

In another context, Starmer chose Rachel Reeves for the Treasury Department, as the first woman to hold this position.

Starmer assigned Reeves (45 years old), a former economist at the Bank of England, in 2021 the task of rebuilding the financial and economic confidence of the Labour Party.

The PM also appointed Angela Rayner (44 years old) as his deputy and Minister of Housing.

According to Reuters, she was previously elected in 2020 as deputy leader of the party, and she is often outspoken in her attacks against the Conservative Party.

Starmer named David Lammy as the UK’s foreign minister and John Healey as defense minister.

The government formation included Wes Streeting (41 years old) assuming the Health Secretary, at a time when public services are deteriorating, especially the National Health Service, which is suffering from strikes, is one of the biggest issues that preoccupied voters and public opinion before the election.

As for the Home Office, it was headed by Yvette Cooper (55 years old), who was elected to Parliament in 1997, when the party achieved a landslide victory during the era of former leader Tony Blair.

Former lawyer Shabana Mahmood is the Labour government's new justice secretary, while Bridget Phillipson is the new Education secretary.

According to the BBC, Starmer chose Jonathan Reynolds as secretary of state for Business and Trade, Ed Miliband as secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, Peter Kyle as secretary for Science, Innovation and Technology, Louise Haigh as secretary for Transport, and Liz Kendall as secretary for Work and Pensions.

In turn, lawyer Bassam Tablieh explained in a statement to Al-Estiklal that “the election of the new UK government is evidence of the great shift that the country has witnessed.”

“Starmer’s cabinet is made up of politicians who supported Remain in the UK’s Brexit referendum and feel a strong emotional connection to Europe,” he said.

Mr. Tablieh noted that “the reason Starmer did not discuss the impact of Britain’s exit from the European Union during the electoral race was due to his desire to win the favor of conservative voters who were upset with the party’s management of the country due to many crises, most notably the high cost of living.”

It is noteworthy that the new Labour government recently expressed a willingness to significantly enhance cooperation with the EU on defense issues, including direct measures such as forming a partnership with the European Defense Agency and closer coordination with defense industry projects in the EU.

However, the long-term prospects of this partnership remain unclear due to the ongoing effects of the Brexit negotiations, which continue to present obstacles to developing a mutually beneficial relationship.