'Seun Ibukun-Oni, Abuja
DAILY COURIER - An exit poll carried out by polling company Ipsos, and paid for by the BBC, ITV and Sky says Starmer’s Labour Party will win the general election with 410 seats. The final outcome of the election should be clear by early on Friday.
The exit poll put the Conservatives on 131 seats – its worst-ever performance – and the Liberal Democrats on 61. Support for the Scottish National Party (SNP) was predicted to have slumped to just 10 seats, compared with 48 at the last election.
Polls closed at 10pm (21:00 GMT) after millions of voters cast their ballots across the UK in a snap general election called by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Voters were deciding whether the Conservative Party leader would remain in the top job or if Keir Starmer, head of the main opposition Labour Party, would become prime minister.
Issues such as the cost of living, healthcare and housing have dominated voters’ concerns.
At present what we’re looking at is an exit poll.
But the exit poll has been extraordinarily accurate in recent years. There could be some doubt if the results were close, but there seems to be a landslide victory. This is such a turnaround since 2019 and a big blow for Sunak.
Things are expected to move quite fast now. By lunchtime on Friday, if results are confirmed, Sunak will have to take all his belongings from 10 Downing Street and leave. Starmer will then go to see the King and he will be the next prime minister.
Poll predicts Reform to win 13 seats in general election
The exit poll is predicting the right-wing populist anti-immigration Reform Party, which fought the last election as the Brexit Party, will win 13 seats, which is more than many polls had suggested.
But John Curtice, the University of Strathclyde political scientist who leads the team producing the exit poll, has told the BBC that he is less confident about the Reform seat numbers than some of the other predictions.
While many expected Nigel Farage, who took over the party leadership at the start of the election campaign, to win his seat in the east coast constituency of Clacton, the performance of other candidates has appeared less certain.
Curtice says Reform’s margin in the constituencies where they are ahead is very small.
Farage’s result is due at about 4am UK time (03:00 GMT). Reform is running candidates across England, but its appeal is mainly in areas that voted for Brexit back in 2016.
Sunak nominates former Prime Minister Theresa May for peerage
Sunak’s government announced dissolution honours just before the polls closed, nominating former Prime Minister Theresa May for a peerage in the House of Lords.
The current prime minister also nominated Graham Brady, chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee, and Alok Sharma, who was president of the COP26 United Nations Climate Change Conference.
Labour leader Keir Starmer nominated eight people, including Harriet Harman, former deputy leader of the party.
An exit poll predicting that the Labour Party led by Keir Starmer will win 410 seats
Landslide Labour victory to put an end to 14 years of Conservative rule
The exit poll suggests the Labour Party will win a landslide victory, putting an end to 14 years of Conservative-led government.
The centre-right Conservatives have governed the UK since 2010. Having secured victories in the last three general elections in 2015, 2017 and 2019, the party is now predicted to win 131 seats, down from 346 when parliament was dissolved.
Who is Keir Starmer?
Keir Starmer looks on track to be Britain’s next prime minister, but who is he?
Starmer was born in London and is a former human rights lawyer and director of public prosecutions.
Now 61, he took over as leader of the Labour Party in April 2020, succeeding staunch socialist Jeremy Corbyn. Starmer has sought to move the party towards the centre of British politics.
Supporters see him as a pragmatic, safe pair of hands. Critics say he is a little dull.
Starmer was named Keir in honour of Keir Hardie, a Scottish politician who was one of the founders of the Labour Party.
He is a keen footballer and Arsenal fan and was given a knighthood for services to criminal justice.
Not an ‘existential catastrophe’ for the Conservatives
Tim Bale, a politics professor at Queen Mary University, London, says that while Labour’s predicted win was “very impressive”, the ruling Conservatives appeared to be holding up better than earlier opinion polls suggested.
“The Conservatives haven’t done quite as badly, it has to be said, as some of the polls during the campaign suggested. Some even suggested that it would go under 100 seats, it looks as if they’re going to pick up about 131 … It is a disaster for the Conservative Party but not an existential catastrophe,” Bale told Al Jazeera.
“I think they will be able to build back from this, how it will take for them to do this, however, is the big question”.
Bale added that the party has been in “chaos” since the Brexit referendum in 2016.
“None of the benefits the Conservatives so promised that would come about through Brexit have really materialised,” he said.
Keir Starmer predicted to be Britain’s next prime minister
Keir Starmer is projected to be Britain’s next prime minister with his Labour Party set to win a massive majority in a parliamentary election, an exit poll indicates.
The overall outcome suggests the disenchanted British public has shifted support to the centre-left, while Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives are forecast to suffer historic losses.
“Britain’s future was on the ballot at this election. And, if we are successful tonight, Labour will get to work immediately with our first steps for change,” Pat McFadden, Labour’s campaign coordinator, said in a statement.
Lib Dem leader Ed Davey says party set to score ‘best results in a century’
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey has welcomed the exit poll results suggesting a strong result for his party.
“The Liberal Democrats are on course for our best r
esults in a century,” he said in a post on X.
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES
