Early election results show Labor winning in landslide; Starmer to be next PM

July 4 (UPI) -- Early results in Britain's snap elections Thursday indicate the Labor Party is sweeping toward a historic Parliamentary majority that will install Keir Starmer as the nation's next prime minister.

After exit polling performed for major British broadcasters showed Labor heading to a landslide victory, overnight vote counting began with early results clearly confirming the expected result.

The center-left party will hold a resounding majority of 170 seats, according to the exit poll for the BBC, ITV News and Sky, meaning Starmer will become Britain's next prime minister after 14 years of continuous rule by the Conservative Party.

The poll predicted Labor will have a total of 410 members of Parliament, a bit short of the historic Labor tally after the 1997 election that handed the premiership to Tony Blair.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's Conservatives, meanwhile, are shown crashing to one of the worst defeats in the party's modern history. Their projected 131 MPs would represent the Tories' worst performance in terms of seats since 1900. The magnitude of the Tory losses were apparent by 3 a.m. local time when Defense Minister Grant Shapps lost his seat to a Labor challenger.

The centrist Liberal Democrats were expected to finish third with 61 MPs, followed by the Scottish National Party with 10 and the right-wing Reform UK forecast to garner 13 seats.

Polls opened at 7 a.m. and closed at 10 p.m. Thursday with citizens able to vote by mail.

The first results to trickle in backed up the projections of expected Labor wins and Tory losses. Labor held onto its seats in Blyth and Ashington in Northumberland as well as in Houghton and Sunderland South in the evening's very first results.

Later in the evening, Labor was declared the winners in many more districts. Starmer himself was declared the winner in his own London constituency and delivered his first remarks on the election.

"People here and around the country have spoken and they're ready for change, to the politics of performance, a return to politics as public service," he told his supporters. "The change begins right here, because this is your democracy, your community and your future.

"You have voted. It is now time for us to deliver."

Meanwhile, Reform UK, led by the controversial populist figure Nigel Farage, showed its strength and the Conservatives' vulnerability on their right flank by finishing second ahead of the Tories in each of the initial pair of results. The four-year-old party is projected to win 13 seats.

"This is an historic moment," Reform UK Deputy Leader David Bull told the BBC. "I think what you're seeing is the shy 'Reformers' coming out in droves."

Farage himself was elected to Parliament for the first time after multiple tries, and declared his party is on course to becoming the country's true opposition to Labor.

"Believe me folks, this is just the first step of something that is going to stun all of you," he said, according to the Guardian.

The vote has seen a dramatic turnaround in British politics, just one election cycle removed from the Labor Party having its worst showing at the polls. Now, they appear poised to take over the government.

The Conservatives under Sunak have spanned the country looking for the votes they need to hold onto power. The Tories, however, have been saddled with a lagging economy, protests by public service workers and issues over immigration.

That does not include the Conservative's own leadership issues. Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson left after being involved in the infamous "Party-gate" scandal during the COVID-19 pandemic, only to see his replacement Liz Truss last for less than two months on the job before Sunak.

The Labor Party last ruled in 1997 with Blair as prime minister.

Sunak and Starmer were both seen casting their votes Thursday morning -- Sunak in North Yorkshire with his wife, while Starmer went to his polling station at Holborn and St. Pancras with his wife.

"Imagine a British moving forward together with a Labor government," Starmer told supporters before the vote on Wednesday, according to The Guardian. "That's what we are fighting for, let's continue that fight. If you want change, you have to vote for it."

Starmer had said he was concerned about low turnout in the snap election, which could upend projections. Brits are casting their ballots in some 650 constituency elections nationwide.

Pre-election polling gives the Labor party a strong advantage.

The Yougov MRP poll predicts Starmer's party could win 431 seats for a majority of 212.

According to final Telegraph poll, Labor will win 39% of the vote, almost twice the 20% of poll respondents who said they will support Conservatives.