United Kingdom starts general elections with a hint of a change in the air

Polling stations across the United Kingdom opened at 7 a.m. local time on Thursday, marking the first time that Britons have gone to vote since the parliamentary elections on December 12, 2019. In these four and a half years, three prime ministers have lived in Downing Street, an example of a turbulent period that, according to all the polls, precedes a change of cycle in which Labour even aspires to achieve its greatest historical victory.

Barring a major surprise, the next prime minister will be Keir Starmer, who, after assuming the leadership of the opposition without much fanfare in 2020, has been gaining popularity at the expense of a Conservative Party that has continued to lose popularity, starting with the collateral effects of Brexit and Boris Johnson’s controversial political management during the pandemic.

Johnson, the symbol of the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union, ended up resigning due to internal pressure, and Liz Truss did not even last a month and a half in power, during which the United Kingdom experienced a change in the throne unprecedented in seven decades due to the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Then came Rishi Sunak, who despite his experience in different ministries has also failed to prevent the leaks of a sinking ship.

Sunak, a young millionaire, made the tightening of immigration policies one of his main pillars of government, despite the fact that he himself is the son of immigrants, but the failure of flagship measures such as the plan for deportations to Rwanda has ended up calling into question his real management capacity. Sunak does not want the British to “hand over” the country to Labour, which is why he has included in his campaign messages warnings that an alleged indiscriminate rise in taxes or a massive arrival of immigrants, including a video in which a red carpet is rolled out on a beach.

With the cards already on the table, Sunak, who was responsible for calling early elections – he could have held out until January 2025 – has tried to appeal to the useful vote of those who do not want a future Labour government, warning that dividing the vote would be giving Starmer a “blank cheque”. He has also made an effort in several of his speeches to stress that not all is “lost”, although his good performance in the televised debates has not allowed him to catch his breath in the polls, which seem to have already decided the vote for the general British population.

Starmer, for his part, has called not only for victory but for a strong mandate – the Labour leader was Tony Blair with 418 seats in the 1997 elections – and has insisted that it represents “the change that the United Kingdom needs” after 14 years of conservative governments. Economic fragility, the improvement of the public health system and environmental commitments have been some of the major issues discussed in recent weeks, although the United Kingdom has other pending challenges on the horizon, some of which still derive from Brexit, such as the pact that must finally establish the future relations of the EU with Gibraltar.

Charles III, a novice in electoral competition after his mother lived with 15 prime ministers during her long reign, will have to receive and endorse the future head of government on Friday, once the results of the 650 constituencies have been known. If the forecasts are met, Starmer will enter the weekend as an official tenant of 10 Downing Street.