London: People throughout the United Kingdom will choose all 650 members of the House of Commons on July 4 for a term of up to five years. The party that commands a majority in the Commons, either alone or in coalition, will form the next government and its leader will be the prime minister. That means the results will determine the political direction of the government, between the right-wing Conservatives, led by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, and the left-leaning Labour, led by the 61-year-old Keir Starmer.
The Labour Party is on course to win the upcoming elections with a landslide majority, ending 14 years of Conservative rule, with a margin of 20 points in the opinion polls. Some opinion polls have predicted that Starmer could achieve a historic achievement with a greater victory margin than Tony Blair, under whom Labour won 418 seats in 1997. Sunak’s party has grappled with infighting and scandals, while a cost-of-living crisis driven by slow economic growth and high inflation has added to the burden of the people.
