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The UK is on the cusp of a big change

July 02, 2024
John Haltiwanger
British opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer attends a Labour general election campaign event, in Norton Canes, Britain July 2, 2024.
British opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer attends a Labour general election campaign event, in Norton Canes, Britain July 2, 2024.
REUTERS/Claudia Greco

The United Kingdom is holding its first general election in roughly half a decade on Thursday, and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak – who’s made a series of blunders while campaigning – and his Conservative Party are bracing for a major defeat.

Change is in the air. After 14 years in power and overseeing everything from Brexit to the UK’s pandemic response, the Conservatives are seemingly on the verge of being knocked off their perch. Polling has consistently shown Keir Starmer’s Labour Party with a sizable lead.

What happens after? Starmer, likely the next British prime minister, is a centrist and former human rights lawyer. Though he’s widely characterized as dull, he has been credited with reshaping Labour and making it more palatable to UK voters by shifting the party away from the far-left politics of his predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn.

Starmer has pledged to lead a government that’s “pro-business and pro-worker” but also says Labour will face “hard choices” for public spending. The party’s manifesto says it will focus on “wealth creation” and, among other goals, Labour aims to create a new publicly owned clean power company.

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