UK’s general election holds as millions go to poll
Sunak and Starmer. Photo: Getty Imag
Millions of people are voting in the UK general election, with the polls expected to close open 22:00 British Summer Time (BST)
It’s the first general election at which you must bring photo ID to vote in person – and the first July election since 1945, BBC reports.
Around 46.5 million Brits are eligible to vote in the election. They are casting their ballots in 650 separate constituencies across the nations of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, with 326 seats required for a party to form a majority government.
The snap vote, called by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, is being held months earlier than necessary and caught much of his party by surprise.
The opposition Labour party suffered its worst defeat since 1935 in the last general election, but has since rebuilt itself under the leadership of Keir Starmer, CNN reports.
The parliamentary election is expected to bring Keir Starmer’s Labour Party to power, sweeping away Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives after 14 often turbulent years, according to Reuters.
Opinion polls put Starmer’s centre-left party on course for a landslide victory but also suggest many voters simply want change after a period of infighting and turmoil under the Conservatives that led to five prime ministers in eight years.
This means Starmer, a 61-year-old former human rights lawyer, could take office with one of the biggest to-do lists in British history but without a groundswell of support or the financial resources to tackle it.
“Today, Britain can begin a new chapter,” Starmer told voters in a statement on Thursday. “We cannot afford five more years under the Conservatives. But change will only happen if you vote Labour.”
The CNN reports that Thursday’s vote follows a six-week campaign in which all major parties have scoured the country in search of votes. Much of the debate has revolved around the economy, the cost of living, the state of Britain’s public services, and tax and immigration.
Largely absent from the debate, however, has been Britain’s relationship with the European Union, which it left in 2020 after a referendum four years earlier.
