International desk: Keir Starmer is set to begin the next British Prime Minister as his opposition center-left Labour party own the United Kingdom general election with a landslide with results from all parliamentary seats declared.
The ruling conservative party suffered a heavy defeat after 14 years in government. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak conceded the defeat saying he had congratulated Starmer on his victory.
Several cabinet ministers lost their seats, as did former Prime Minister Liz Truss, according to CNN reports.
The Labour secured 411 parliamentary seats in the 650-strong parliament while the Conservatives (Tories) won in 199 seats. Formation of government requires 326 parliamentary seats.
Starmer, 61, told a cheering crowd in central London that change has begun here. He promised a decade of national renewal putting country first and the party second.
But he cautioned that change would not come overnight, even as Labour snatched a swathe of Tory seats around the country, including from at least eight Cabinet members.
Defence Secretary Grant Shapps was the highest-profile scalp of the night so far, with other big names, including senior minister Penny Mordaunt and leading Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg also defeated.
Finance minister Jeremy Hunt hung on to remain an MP, but only by 891 votes.
British newspapers all focused on Labour’s impending return to power for the first time since Gordon Brown was ousted by David Cameron in 2010.
Rishi Sunak will tender his resignation to head of state King Charles III, with the monarch then asking Starmer, as the leader of the largest party in parliament, to form a government. The process of formation of the new government is likely to begin on Friday.
The Tories worst previous election result is 156 seats in 1906.
Labour’s resurgence is a stunning turnaround from five years ago, when hard-left former leader Jeremy Corbyn took the party to its worst defeat since 1935 in an election dominated by Brexit.
Starmer took over in early 2020 and set about moving the party back to the centre, making it a more electable proposition and purging infighting and anti-Semitism that lost it support.
Starmer is facing a daunting to-do list, with economic growth anaemic, public services overstretched and underfunded due to swingeing cuts, and households squeezed financially.
He has also promised a return of political integrity, after a chaotic period of five Tory prime ministers, including three in four months, scandal and sleaze.
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