UK polls open as British voters expected to hand resounding victory to Starmer’s Labour

By AP 4 July 2024, 9:01 am

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Labour Party leader Keir Starmer, center, leaves after addressing supporters during his visit to the West Regwm Farm Events Venue in Whitland, Carmarthenshire, while on the General Election campaign trail, in Wales, July 3, 2024. (Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP)

Polls open in the United Kingdom as British voters pick a new government in a parliamentary election that is widely expected to bring the Labour Party to power against a gloomy backdrop of economic malaise, mounting distrust in institutions and a fraying social fabric.

A jaded electorate is delivering its verdict on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative Party, which has been in power since 2010.

The center-left Labour Party led by Keir Starmer has had a steady and significant lead in opinion polls for months, but its leaders warn against taking the election result for granted, worried their supporters will stay home.

“We cannot afford five more years under the Conservatives. But change will only happen if you vote Labour,” Starmer said yesterday.

The Conservatives have conceded that Labour appears headed for victory and urged voters not to hand the party a “supermajority.”

In the final days of campaigning Sunak insisted “the outcome of this election is not a foregone conclusion.”