Millions went to the polls in the U.K. on Thursday, to vote for 650 MPs in the House of Commons, with the Labour Party projected to win a sizeable, if not historically large majority of more than 400 seats, according to several poll projections.
Polls opened at 7:00 a.m. (local time) and will close at 10:00 p.m. (local time), when exit polls will give a strong indication of the final result.
When final results are announced on Friday morning, the accuracy of the polls and the fate of Rishi Sunak’s government will be known. The 44-year-old British Prime Minister, the first person of Indian descent to hold the position, heads the fifth in a series of Conservative governments that have spanned 14 years.
Labour had fashioned its campaign around the theme ‘change’. “Vote change,” Labour leader Keir Starmer said on Thursday. “Today, Britain’s future is on the ballot,” he wrote, posting a photograph of himself with his wife, Victoria Starmer on social media site X.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak insisted he was still “fighting hard” despite one of his closest allies conceding that the Tories were heading for an “extraordinary landslide” defeat on Thursday.
Mr. Sunak sought to hammer home his oft-repeated warnings that a Labour government would mean tax rises and weaker national security- jibes that Labour has branded a desperate attempt to cling to power. The Tories also stepped up their warnings to voters to stop the prospect of Labour winning a “supermajority”, which Labour fears is intended to hit turnout.