Britain Votes Again: The Race for the Next Prime Minister in a Tumultuous Era

On Thursday, polling stations across the United Kingdom opened at 7 a.m. local time, marking the first time that Britons have gone to vote since the parliamentary elections on December 12, 2019. In these four and a half years, three prime ministers have lived in Downing Street, an example of a turbulent period that, according to all the polls, precedes a change of cycle in which Labour even aspires to achieve its greatest historical victory.

Barring a major surprise, the next prime minister will be Keir Starmer, who has been gaining popularity at the expense of a Conservative Party that has continued to lose popularity since Boris Johnson resigned due to internal pressure. Sunak did not even last a month and a half in power before resigning due to his failure to prevent the leaks of a sinking ship.

Sunak made tightening immigration policies one of his main pillars of government despite being himself the son of immigrants. However, his failure of flagship measures such as the plan for deportations to Rwanda has called into question his real management capacity. Sunak wants the British people not to hand over their country to Labour and has included warnings about an alleged indiscriminate rise in taxes or mass arrival of immigrants in his campaign messages.

With the cards already on the table, Sunak tried to appeal to the useful vote by warning those who do not want a future Labour government that dividing their vote would give Starmer a “blank cheque.” He also made efforts in several speeches to stress that it is not all “lost” despite good performance in televised debates failing to allow him to catch up with Starmer’s lead in polls which seem set on deciding victory for Starmer as Tony Blair did with 418 seats in 1997 elections.

Starmer has called for victory but also for a strong mandate and insisted it represents “the change that the United Kingdom needs” after 14 years of conservative governments. Economic fragility, public health improvement and environmental commitments are some major issues discussed recently although there are other pending challenges on horizon such as finalizing relations with Gibraltar after Brexit pact yet unfulfilled promises from Tory governments during Boris Johnson’s tenure.