Sir Keir Starmer is next Prime Minister as Labour win election
Labour passed the threshold for victory in the early hours of this morning
Last updated 5th Jul 2024
Sir Keir Starmer is the UK's next Prime Minister as Labour wins the general election
Around 5am Labour surpassed the 326 seats needed for a majority in the House of Commons, meaning they will form the next government and Keir Starmer will be our next Prime Minister.
This is now the largest Labour majority since Tony Blair came to power back in 1997, when the party scored 418 seats in the House of Commons.
LISTEN: 'The Starmer Tsunami' - our guide to what happened in the General Election
Tory leader Rishi Sunak conceded defeat after a “sobering” night for his party which saw a record 11 Cabinet ministers lose their seats.
Soon after he was confirmed to be re-elected to Parliament, outgoing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he had spoken to Starmer on the phone, with Sunak congratulating his Labour counterpart.
On an eventful election night there have been number of big moments:
- A number of high-profile Conservative MPs lost their seats, including Liz Truss, Penny Mordaunt, Grant Shapps, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Alex Chalk, Mark Harper, Johnny Mercer, Gillian Keegan, Lucy Frazer and Douglas Ross in Scotland
- Reform UK leader Nigel Farage won the Clacton seat, marking the first time that Farage will enter the Houses of Parliament as an MP
- Reform UK has gained more seats in the House of Commons, including wins for Lee Anderson and Richard Tice
- The Green Party won all four of the seats they were targeting with co-leaders Carla Denyer and Adam Ramsey both wining.
- Liberal Democrats made big gains, including a particular uptake in seats in the South West of the country.
- Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn held on to his seat as an independent
- Significant losses for the Scottish National Party losing more than 30 seats
At a victory rally in central London, Sir Keir said the country could now “get its future back”.
He told jubilant activists “we did it”, adding: “Change begins now.”
Sir Keir said: “We did it. You campaigned for it, you fought for it, you voted for it, and now it has arrived – change begins now.
Here are some of the moments from the night:
It is six weeks since Rishi Sunak announced he was calling a General Election and in that time the party leaders and candidates have been campaigning non-stop to win people's votes.
Penny Mordaunt was emotional after losing her Portsmouth North seat:
Nigel Farage has finally made it as an MP on his eighth attempt
The Greens won all four of the seats they were targetting
Keir Starmer chats to us
Before the election, we sat down with Keir Starmer and had a chance to talk about what he'd do if he became Prime Minister.
He here is talking to our Westminster Political Editor Georgie Prodromou:
We sat down with the leaders of both main parties, you can watch both interviews with Sir Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak here.
What happens now?
Later today Keir Starmer will visit King Charles, it is the King’s duty as head of state to appoint a prime minister and Sir Keir will be asked to form a government 'in the King's name'.
Once that's all done, Sir Keir will head to Downing Street to enter Number 10 as Prime Minister.
After that Starmer will have to name the MPs who will be in his cabinet and start working on the policies the party set out in their manifesto.
On Tuesday Parliament will open up for work again with new MPs being sworn in and the formal election of the Speaker of the House of Commons.
On the 17th July, the King will head to Parliament to deliver the King's Speech -setting out the policies and laws Labour will try to introduce this year.