The Parliament of UK has 650 seats. This means that for a simple majority, a party needs to win 326 seats (half of all seats +1).

Elections to all seats were held on Thursday, July 4th, 2024.

Results were announced on July 5th.

The results were surprising. The Conservative Party, which has been in power since 2010, lost to the Labour party by a wide margin.

The new Prime Minister and the Cabinet

Mr. Keir Starmer – Prime Minister

Some of the important ministers are:

Ms. Angela Rayner – Deputy Prime Minister

Ms. Rachel Reeves – Chancellor of the Exchequer (Finance Minister)

Mr. David Lammy – Foreign Secretary (Foreign minister)

Ms. Yvette Cooper – Home Secretary (Home Minister)

Ms. Shabana Mahmood – Justice Secretary (Law Minister)

Mr. John Healey – Defence Secretary (Defence Minister)

In all, 22 cabinet positions have been announced so far.

Why did such a massive change happen?

All of the following points are opinions.

Low Stability

The UK has had four Prime Ministers in eight years:

Theresa May – 2016 – 2019

Boris Johnson (2019-22)

Elizabeth Truss (2022)

Rishi Sunak (2022- 24)

Such short tenures lead to a lack of stability in the governance. Every leader has their own priorities.

Quality of Life

Brexit, even though it was the result of a nationwide poll, did not lead to better economic conditions for the UK.

NHS – the government health services provider, was struggling with a shortage of trained professionals, long waiting times, at least two major cyber breaches, etc. Healthcare is one of the most important needs of a citizen.

A poor economy with high interest rates meant that people had less and less money.

Jobs were getting fewer.

Infighting

The members of the Conservative Party were not working together. Many of them were suspended for discipline, and many switched to other parties.

Conclusion

After 15 years, this is a new era for the UK as Labour party takes over.

Here’s hoping that citizen issues are resolved and the economy recovers.