UK Politics

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorNo sitting prime minister has ever failed to win their seat at a general election – but the opinion polls this time around raise the question of what would happen if Rishi Sunak loses in Richmond.The constituency could be close, and a survey by Savanta has suggested that the Tory PM is on course to see the 27,000-strong majority in his North Yorkshire constituency overturned.A report claimed on Wednesday that the prime minister had confided to members of his inner circle that he was fearful of losing his seat, warning confidants that he believed the race in Richmond and Northallerton was too close to call.Follow our blog for the latest general election updatesCould Sunak remain PM even if he loses his seat?In the event of such an outcome being declared in the small hours of Friday, it is highly unlikely that Mr Sunak would stand down as prime minister prior to the final national election result being called later that day.According to the Institute for Government (IfG), precedent suggests that a prime minister should be an MP – but there is no suggestion that they must immediately resign if they lose their seat. Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty visit their polling station on Thursday More

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorA number of top Tory ministers are set to lose their seats in the upcoming general election as the Conservative’s faltering campaign grinds on, according to a new shock poll published on Wednesday.In devastating news for prime minister Rishi Sunak, YouGov’s final poll before voting began on Thursday predicted that 14 Tory “big beasts” were set to lose their seats to Labour, the Liberal Democrats, Reform UK and Plaid Cymru.The Conservatives would drop to just 108 seats, losing 257 of the seats they won in 2019, according to YouGov’s projection on Wednesday. Labour would win a huge majority of 425 seats, up by 223.Follow live updates on the general election hereAmong those set to be ousted are Jeremy Hunt, Penny Mordaunt, Mel Stride, Alex Chalk, Mark Harper, Grant Shapps and Gillian Keegan.Separately, Mr Sunak is rumoured to have confided to members of his inner circle that he is fearful of losing his Yorkshire constituency at the general election.Here, The Independent takes a closer look at the prominent Tory candidates deemed by YouGov to be at risk of losing their seats.Jeremy HuntChancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt is set to lose his seat under a new prediction by polling company YouGov More

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorIf the opinion polls are correct and Labour storms to power, Sir Keir Starmer will have no time to celebrate his victory. The first few days and weeks as prime minister will be a whirlwind that would make the difficult job as leader of the opposition look easy with hindsight.The incoming prime minister’s in tray will be more daunting than usual because of a rotten economic inheritance – in sharp contrast to 1997, when Tony Blair took over with the economy growing, which eventually allowed him to boost spending on public services.Sir Keir’s first big task, if elected, will be to appoint his cabinet and junior ministers. Most of the top jobs are expected to be filled by those who held them in opposition, but there could be some tweaks. One headache: the number of ministers who sit in the Commons is limited to 95 but 109 Labour MPs were on the front bench in the last parliament. When the Lords is included, Labour had more opposition frontbenchers (146) than are paid ministerial posts (109). Would Sir Keir scale back his team and ask many of them to forsake their ministerial salary? Keir Starmer’a first few days and weeks as prime minister will be a whirlwind More

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorWatch a live view of 10 Downing Street as Britons vote in the general election on Thursday 4 July.Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer have already cast their ballots as they vie to win the election after weeks of campaigning.Polling stations across the UK opened at 7am, giving millions of voters the chance to decide if the Tory incumbent remains in the top job or the Labour leader enters Downing Street.Opinion polls suggest Labour is on course to secure a big majority in the House of Commons and form a new government.Mr Sunak, who has insisted the results are not a foregone conclusion despite dire poll ratings for his party, voted in his Richmond constituency.He waved at reporters as he and his wife Akshata Murty arrived hand-in-hand at the Kirby Sigston Village Hall, as he hopes to be returned to parliament as the MP for Richmond and Northallerton.Sir Keir was also joined by his wife, Victoria, as he visited a polling station in his Holborn and St Pancras constituency.The Labour leader told his final rally in Redditch, Worcestershire, on Wednesday night to “imagine a Britain moving forward together with a Labour government”. More

An elections expert has explained how you can still vote in the general election even if you have lost your ID.This election is the first time in the UK that everyone wanting to vote in person will have to show a correct form of photo ID before casting a ballot – this includes a passport, driving licence and blue badge.However, if you have lost your identification, you can apply for an emergency proxy vote until 5pm on Thursday 4 July (polling day).Alex Thomas, programme director at the Institute for Government, explained the process for applying during an appearance on Good Morning Britain. More

Jeremy Corbyn posed outside a polling station in his north London constituency after casting his vote in the general election.The former Labour leader is running as an Independent candidate in Islington North.Mr Corbyn has won the seat for Labour at every general election since 1983, but is no longer a member of the party.He was seen posing with his thumbs up after casting his vote.Earlier on Thursday 4 July, he made an appeal for voters to help his campaign, saying: “We have built this campaign from nothing. We don’t have party machinery. We don’t have big donors. We have something more powerful: people.” More

Sir Keir Starmer made the short journey from his Kentish Town home to the polling station to vote in the Holborn and St Pancras constituency on Thursday 4 July.The Labour leader and his wife, Victoria, arrived on foot and walked hand-in-hand into the hall tucked inside the housing estate to cast their ballots in the general election.A crowd of local residents gathered to watch Sir Keir enter the polling station alongside dozens of national and international media.He left through a back door out of sight of reporters. More

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorPolling guru Professor Sir John Curtice gave a final prediction ahead of the polls opening in the general election. British voters are heading to polling stations on Thursday to cast their ballots, six weeks after prime minister Rishi Sunak sought to surprise his opponents by calling the 4 July election earlier than expected.Follow our politics blog for the latest general election updatesWith Sir Keir Starmer’s party sustained its roughly 20-point lead in the polls over the course of the campaign, expert Prof Curtice shared his final thoughts in an opinion piece published before voting began at 7am on Thursday.Short of a dramatic turnaround, after the final opinion polls published on Wednesday the veteran polling expert had suggested that “it looks as though Sir Keir Starmer will become prime minister on Friday”.“What remains uncertain is just how badly things might turn out for the Conservatives,” the University of Strathclyde professor of politics wrote for the Daily Telegraph.One of two key uncertainties highlighted by Prof Curtice was how self-declared undecided voters will ultimately cast their ballot – with 2019 Tory voters estimated to be twice as likely to tell pollsters they “don’t know” how they will vote than those who voted Labour five years ago.Labelling this one of many symptoms of the unpopularity the Tories have struggled to escape since the implosion of Liz Truss’s premiership, Prof Curtice said: “Many undecideds are as unhappy with the Conservatives as those who say they are going to vote differently this time around – they just are not sure what to do as a result.“Still, if any group of voters are going to drift back to the Conservatives in the final hours the undecideds are probably the most likely to do so. But even if all of them eventually vote for the party they backed in 2019, there are not enough of them to do more than put a three or four-point dent in Labour’s lead.”Prof Curtice also warned that a key message of the many MRP megapolls of the campaign has been that support for the Tories was falling more heavily in constituencies it is trying to defend.In part, this is “arithmetically inevitable” given that there are more than 100 constituencies in which the party’s share of the vote in 2019 was less than the 25 per cent by which recent polls have suggested it will fall across the UK, he said.Will Sir Keir Starmer be Britain’s new prime minister on Friday? More