Labour Wins Decisive Victory Despite Modest Rise in Support

July 5, 2024 TruthUSA

The party achieved the lowest ever vote share for a majority-winning party since 1900 but came close to winning a record high number of seats.

Analysis

Labour claimed the biggest majority since 1997, winning 412 of 650 seats in Parliament with all but one seat declared on Friday.

Despite winning almost two-thirds of seats, their overall vote share was only around one-third, marking the lowest ever vote share for a majority-winning party since 1900.

Reform UK and the Green Party, on the other hand, managed to secure only a handful of seats despite larger vote shares.

Reform leader Nigel Farage has called for electoral change leading up to the polling day after foreseeing the results.

The Liberal Democrats, as outliers in this election, have advocated for proportional representation to align seats won with votes cast and promote collaboration among politicians.

The Westminster elections in the UK operate under the first-past-the-post system, where constituencies cast a single vote for a preferred candidate, resulting in the candidate with the most votes winning, without the need to secure over 50 percent of the votes.

Although this system is simpler and often leads to strong single-party governments, critics argue it results in wasted votes for losing candidates, encourages tactical voting, and hinders smaller parties from gaining seats in Parliament.

Labour won 63 percent of constituencies with only 33.8 percent of the vote share, marking the lowest ever vote share for a majority-winning party.

The Conservative Party held a record low number of seats and vote share, maintaining 18.6 percent of seats with 23.7 percent of the vote.

Outgoing Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and wife Akshata Murty leave 10 Downing Street following Labour's landslide election victory in London on July 5, 2024. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images) — Outgoing Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and wife Akshata Murty leave 10 Downing Street following Labour’s landslide election victory in London on July 5, 2024. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

The Green Party secured only four seats, accounting for 0.6 percent of seats, with 6.8 percent of the vote.

Reform received 14 percent of votes nationally but translated them into only five seats in Parliament, representing 0.8 percent of all seats.

The start-up party, formerly the Brexit Party, ranked second in almost 100 constituencies and third in others.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage gives a victory speech at Clacton Leisure Centre in Clacton, Essex, during the count for the 2024 General Election on July 5, 2024. (Joe Giddens/PA Wire)

In a surprising Tory defeat, former Prime Minister Liz Truss, who previously had a significant majority in 2019, lost to Labour by a margin of just 630 votes, influenced largely by Reform and Tory-allied independent candidate James Bagge.

The Liberal Democrats emerged as the third largest party with 71 MPs (11 percent) and secured 12 percent of the votes, maintaining similar levels of seats and votes.

PA Media contributed to this report.

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