Editorial|In Britain, power changed when Labor led by Keir Starmer won a solid majority in the lower house of parliament in Thursday’s general election, and Starmer immediately became the new prime minister.
Bthe labor party of ritannia, i.e. Labor, took the expected landslide victory in the parliamentary elections held on Thursday. At the same time, the Conservative Party, which had led Britain continuously for 14 years, had to step into the opposition after a historic major election defeat.
Based on the election results, Britain seems to be swimming against the European tide, as a moderate center-left party emerged as the clear winner of the elections. In many other countries, the traditional people’s parties are in trouble, but in Britain Labor’s victory was partly influenced by chairman Keir Starmer’s line that tends to the center of politics. On Friday, Starmer emphasized that “doctrines” will not guide his government.
Starmer’s project to transform the party did not go smoothly, and the left wing of the party even accused him of “cleansing”. For example, Jeremy Corbyn, Starmer’s predecessor as party leader, was not Labour’s candidate in this election but ran for and got into parliament as an independent candidate. Indeed, Starmer’s loudest critics are on the left, where he is considered both unprincipled and suspect due to his background as a prosecutor.
However, Starmer’s line was effective in the election, where a large part of the business community also seemed to hope for a Labor victory. Also financial magazines The Economist and The Financial Times supported Labor in their editorials. Jeremy Hunt, who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Conservative government, said on Friday that he considers Starmer and future Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves to be decent people who will do their best for Britain.
Labour’s landslide victory was ultimately not much of Labour’s own merit. Voters were, above all, disappointed and fed up with what they considered to be an incompetent conservative party, whose last years of long reign have been colored by scandals.
Labor was also helped by the division of the right-wing votes, as the right-wing populist Reform UK party of old Brexit warrior Nigel Farage, who entered the parliament, took the votes of the conservatives in many places. Together, the Conservatives and Reform UK won more votes than Labour. The lower than usual turnout also affected the outcome of the election.
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Now Labor benefited from the electoral system.
The 650 MPs in the House of Commons of the British Parliament are elected from single-member constituencies. The place is given to the person who has the most votes. The system favors two major parties and has long concreted Britain into a practically two-party system, because in the model the national vote shares of the parties do not decide the outcome of the election. A large part of the votes are “wasted”: often the elected representative has received less than half of the votes in the constituency.
Now Labor benefited from the electoral system. On Thursday, it gathered only about 34 percent of the country’s votes, but got 63 percent of the parliamentary seats. Labor lost the 2017 election, even though it received 40 percent of the vote. On Thursday, Labor received fewer votes than in the 2019 election, where it suffered a crushing defeat.
Britannia is in bad shape in many ways so Starmer has a lot of work to do. Visible results should start coming quickly, and besides, after the conservatives limped, the government should feel and seem different. However, the party’s voter base is fragmented, so some voters will certainly get angry.
British voters have become mobile. That’s why Starmer can’t forget right-wing populists either. Although Reform UK was number one in only a few constituencies, it was second in dozens of constituencies. In them, the party will also challenge Labor next time.
The electoral system was known to everyone, and no one disputed Labour’s mandate. In Britain’s fastidious model, Starmer already became prime minister on Friday. He now has the power and opportunity to shape Britain.
The editorials are HS’s positions on a current topic. The articles are prepared by HS editorial staff, and they reflect the journal principle line.
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