Sunak, Starmer face off in UK PM race

By Seyi Babalola

Millions of people in the UK are gearing up to vote in Thursday’s general election as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak fights to keep opposition leader Sir Keir Starmer out of 10 Downing Street.

Opinion surveys predict a resounding win for the Labour Party led by Keir Starmer, perhaps ending the 14-year tenure of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative Party.

Mr Sunak’s Conservatives and Sir Keir’s Labour Party have spent the closing days of the campaign reiterating their major ideas to sway undecided voters.

Faced with poll after poll revealing a sizable lead for Labour, the Conservatives are imploring voters not to give their opponents a large majority, with one minister admitting that he anticipates a landslide. They also face a danger from the right-wing party Reform UK, which has been boosted by Nigel Farage’s return to front-line politics.

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Here is everything you need to know as the country heads to the polls:

Voters will choose 650 parliamentary seats in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

Polling stations are open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., with over 40,000 locations serving 46 million eligible voters. The election includes a new voter identification requirement.

Keir Starmer is likely to become the next Prime Minister, with polls indicating that his centre-left Labour Party would easily defeat Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives, often known as Tories. Starmer has promised a “new age of hope and opportunity” and claims that his cabinet is “ready for government.”

Sunak, who called the election earlier than expected, has changed his campaign tactics in recent weeks.

He has abandoned his aim of a fifth consecutive win, instead warning against an unassailable Labour supermajority.

“This is what unites us. We need to stop the Labour supermajority that will put up your taxes,” Sunak urged voters on social media.

According to sources, Sunak is concerned about losing his Yorkshire electorate of Richmond and Northallerton, which he won by a margin of 27,000 votes in 2019.

The Guardian also reports that despite Conservative assurances, close confidants claim Sunak is apprehensive about the tight race.

Boris Johnson’s Conservatives won 365 seats in the 2019 general election, giving them an 80-seat majority. Labour secured 202 seats, the SNP 48, and the Liberal Democrats 11.

This time, the Conservatives are facing public backlash following a period of internal conflict and five successive prime leaders in eight years.

Sunak has pledged that if re-elected, he build more homes, ease taxes for the self-employed and follow through on a controversial plan to deport some asylum-seekers to Rwanda, no matter where they are from.