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Curtains Fall on UK Elections: What’s Next For Britain?

Keir Starmer gives a speech at Westminster Cathedral while running to be leader of the Labour Party. London / UK. January 31, 2020 (Photo:©Dominic Dudley/ Dreamstime.com)

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By Akerele Christabel

July 6, 2024
4:33 pm
Los Angeles, CA

Sir. Keir Starmer Meets With His Cabinet For The First Time, Says They “Have Work To Do” Sir. Keir Starmer will no longer be the nigh-powerless leader of the opposition who has to stomach the policies of the conservatives in a belly full of frustration. Now, he holds the key to Downing Street after his Labour Party trumped the Conservatives in what was the heaviest defeat in nearly a century. The Conservative Party suffered a devastating defeat to close the curtains on a turbulent 14 years in power. In this period of time, the country saw five different prime minister run the country. However, the Tories tumultuous reign came to a shocking end as it lost 250 seats in one night. The result is a stunning comeback from the

Sir. Keir Starmer Meets With His Cabinet For The First Time, Says They “Have Work To Do”

Sir. Keir Starmer will no longer be the nigh-powerless leader of the opposition who has to stomach the policies of the conservatives in a belly full of frustration. Now, he holds the key to Downing Street after his Labour Party trumped the Conservatives in what was the heaviest defeat in nearly a century. The Conservative Party suffered a devastating defeat to close the curtains on a turbulent 14 years in power. In this period of time, the country saw five different prime minister run the country. However, the Tories tumultuous reign came to a shocking end as it lost 250 seats in one night.

The result is a stunning comeback from the 2019 election where veteran left-wing politician, Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party suffered its worst defeat in almost 100 years. The UK’s 2024 general elections results represents the Conservative Party’s worst performance in over two centuries. Observers anticipate a broiling ideological battle over its future direction.

What counted for one of the biggest defeats for the Conservative translates to huge gains for the Labour Party. Britain’s House of Commons has 650 MPs, or members of parliament, with Labour winning over 400 seats, while the Conservatives have slumped to just 121 and centrist Liberal Democrats have taken 71. Reform UK, a successor to the Brexit Party, is set to pick up four seats, as is the left-wing Green Party. The coming days will see Sir. Starmer attempt to remake an economically and politically deformed country in his own image.

Labour may have obtained an overwhelming victory in the UK general elections. However, the elation from victory may soon give way to gravity once the party realizes the full extent to which its repairs will be needed on the country.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer Ms Reeves has been warning of what she calls the “worst economic inheritance since the Second World War”. Labour Party will be appalled at the situation of things in Britain. Waiting lists are sky high. Prisons are overcrowded. Millions of families are struggling to make ends meet. As a senior Whitehall official said: “Things really are worse on the inside than you can see from outside.”

The new government has it work cut out for it including fixing the country’s sluggish economic and social problems resulting in part from Brexit, the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and several Conservative Party scandals. The party also faces the mammoth task of restoring chronically underfunded public services in a time of economic hardship.

On Saturday, 5th July, Sir. Keir met with members of his newly formed cabinet. He echoed the expectations of the public and the state of the nation when he said “we have a huge amount of work to do…so now we get on with our work”.

The meeting was expected to focus on the country’s economic stability, setting up the new green investment firm GB Energy, and cutting NHS waiting lists. In addition, the agenda may also include whether to ditch the Rwanda scheme in favour of a new plan to tackle immigration. Overflowing prisons and junior doctor prices are also part of items to be discussed

One key area in the Labour Party’s cross hairs is the NHS (National Health Services). Political analyst Tim Bale of Queen Mary University of London said it was going to take huge funding to improve the state-funded National Health Service, a key issue for a majority of voters. But other big ticket infrastructure items also need attention.

“The question is where Labour is going to get that money from and how quickly it can manage to do it,’’ Bale told The Associated Press. “It’s got a big, growth plan that intends to liberalize planning in this country to make it easier to build houses, factories, infrastructure that will hopefully raise the tax revenue that the government can actually put into public services.”

“Whether they can do that in time to satisfy public expectations, I think is the big question,” He said.

Sir. Keir Starmer, in his first speech, vowed to get to work immediately to rebuild Britain. Only time will tell if that will pan out as expected for the Labour Party-led government, or if it will be another case of dashed hopes for the people.