The U.K.’s opposition Labour Party won a huge parliamentary majority in the country’s general election, unseating the incumbent Conservatives after 14 years, CNBC reports.
Early on Friday morning, Labour passed the threshold needed to govern alone as outgoing PM Rishi Sunak conceded defeat. Keir Starmer, leader of the center-left Labour, will become the country’s next prime minister and declared victory in the early hours.
“We did it,” he said, addressing his Labour colleagues. “You campaigned for it, you fought for it — and now it has arrived ... change begins now.”
Some projections show Labour will gain its second-largest majority after former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s 179-seat majority in 1997.
Millions of people across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland on Thursday voted for their local representatives in the 650-member House of Commons, the U.K.’s lower house of parliament. Ballots are still being counted, with constituencies announcing their winning candidate as soon as votes are tallied.
