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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 ThomasEditorNigel Farage has finally enjoyed success in a general election, becoming the MP for Clacton on his eighth time standing for a Westminster seat.Exactly one month after returning as leader of Reform UK, the arch-Brexiteer stormed to victory in the seaside Essex seat.He was elected with 46.07 per cent of the vote, while Reform’s Lee Anderson, Richard Tice and Rupert Lowe also won seats in parliament.The four MPs will form a tiny group in the Commons, but Mr Farage has always had an outsized influence on British politics. And with a foothold now in the corridors of power, The Independent looks at whether Mr Farage’s next steps could see him become prime minister by 2029.Follow The Independent’s live coverage of the 2024 general electionFarage gives a victory speech at Clacton Leisure Centre in Essex (Joe Giddens/PA) 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 ThomasEditorSir Keir Starmer has been handed the keys to Downing Street with a landslide victory for Labour after Nigel Farage’s Reform UK split the Tory vote.In a night of stunning results, there was a bloodbath at the top of the Tory party, with a record number of cabinet ministers losing their seats.By 5am, a record eight top ministers had gone, with Commons leader Penny Mordaunt, defence secretary Grant Shapps, and education secretary Gillian Keegan among the big beasts voted out.One notable surprise survivor was chancellor Jeremy Hunt, whose seat was expected to fall to the Lib Dems.Keir Starmer celebrates victory 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 ThomasEditorLabour has won a landslide victory in the general election after six weeks of intense campaigning, with Sir Keir Starmer becoming the UK’s next prime minister. Taking over from defeated Rishi Sunak, the leader promised that a vote for Labour is a vote for change in his manifesto.From tackling NHS waiting lists to scrapping the Conservatives’ Rwanda deportation policy, here are some big issues on which voters can expect to see action in the first 100 days of a Labour government:Cancel the Rwanda policyLabour has confirmed it will cancel the Conservatives’ controversial Rwanda asylum plan. Designed to deter illegal immigration, the scheme would see asylum seekers, whose applications to stay in the UK are rejected, deported to Rwanda by plane for processing and resettlement.Sir Keir has said he would scrap the policy “straight away”, redirecting funds towards measures which tackle the problem “at the source.”Chief amongst these is setting up the new Border Security Command and a counter-terrorism unit to “smash” people smuggling gangs and tackle the issue of small boat crossingsOne of Rishi Sunak’s key pledges has been the Rwanda asylum policy as he vowed to ‘stop the boats’ 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 record-breaking 11 cabinet ministers have lost their seats as Rishi Sunak’s government faced a general election bloodbath. Johnny Mercer, Grant Shapps, Gillian Keegan, Lucy Frazer, Penny Mordaunt, Michelle Donelan, Alex Chalk, David TC Davies, Victoria Prentis, Mark Harper and Simon Hart are among the Tory big beasts who have fallen as Labour claimed a dramatic victory. Others who had been under threat, including chancellor Jeremy Hunt, business secretary Kemi Badenoch and home secretary James Cleverly, clung on despite challenges in their seats. Rishi Sunak had a scare in his seat too, going there to campaign eight times, but he won easily in the end taking almost half the vote.Click here for our live coverage of the general election campaign.Penny Mordaunt was among the high profile figures to lose their seats 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 ThomasEditorRishi Sunak has phoned Sir Keir Starmer to congratulate him on winning a historic general election landslide, with the Tories on course for their worst defeat in history.The prime minister, having flown down from Yorkshire in the early hours of Friday morning, will have to vacate Downing Street to let Sir Keir Starmer move in and get to work.As the final ballots across the country are counted, The Independent runs you through what happens on Friday as power changes hands.Downing Street departuresOn Friday morning, Mr Sunak and his family will pack up in preparation to take their belongings from 10 Downing Street back to their house in west London.Rishi Sunak arrived at Conservative Party headquarters on Friday morning 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 ThomasEditorKeir Starmer pledged “change begins now” as he addressed jubilant activists celebrating a landslide election victory.Twenty-seven years and two months after Tony Blair’s 1997 “new dawn” speech, the Labour leader said Britain was experiencing the “sunlight of hope” and could now “get its future back.”“We did it,” he told supporters. “You campaigned for it, you fought for it, you voted for it, and now it has arrived – change begins now.”His speech, at the Tate Modern art gallery on London’s south bank, came shortly after Rishi Sunak publicly conceded the election at his constituency count in North Yorkshire.“It feels good, I have to be honest,” Sir Keir said. “Four-and-a-half years of work changing the party, this is what it is for – a changed Labour party ready to serve our country, ready to restore Britain to the service of working people.“And across our country, people will be waking up to the news, relief that a weight has been lifted, a burden finally removed from the shoulders of this great nation.“And now we can look forward, walk into the morning, the sunlight of hope, pale at first but getting stronger through the day, shining once again, on a country with the opportunity after 14 years to get its future back.”Keir Starmer embraces his wife, Victoria 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 ThomasEditorAs Rishi Sunak surveys a historically catastrophic result for the Conservatives and examines the ashes of his political career, the question he and many will be asking is: “Where did it all go wrong?” Handed a party in chaos after the rules of both Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, he had the unenviable job of turning a doomed tanker around.But the truth is that the disaster that unfurled in the early hours of Friday morning started a long time ago:Selection to run in Richmond in 2015There is nothing wrong in a potential future leader being given a safe seat. However, Mr Sunak’s party did him no favours by not letting him first test out his political skills in an unwinnable seat and then preventing any real competition when he did stand in Richmond. Both factors laid the groundwork for a politician who has been constantly and justifiably criticised for lacking political skills and instincts.The comparison often made is Penny Mordaunt who had to take two elections to win her Portsmouth North seat off Labour and has been a noticeably better political operator in the government.The lack of political nouse has seen the prime minister caught our time and again on quite simple decisions and exposed a lack of tactics in taking on Labour.Arguably supporting Brexit in 2016 was a mistake in the first place. It certainly held up his career in becoming a minister. He was expected to be fasttracked into government but had to wait almost three years until 2018 to become a junior minister. His rise after that when Boris Johnson came to power was meteoric.But to support Leave in a way which then allowed a Remain campaigner Liz Truss to later on claim to be more of a Brexiteer than him is a special achievement. Ms Truss managed to get the support of the hardcore Brexiteer European Research Group of Tory MPs which helped her win the leadership contest against him. His premiership was also dogged by angry Brexiteers claiming he was betraying Brexit either by sorting out the Northern Ireland mess with the Windsor Framework or getting British scientists back into the EU’s Horizon program.Sunak and his wife voting 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 ThomasEditorArch-Brexiteer Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg has lost his North East Somerset seat, becoming one of more than half a dozen Tory big beasts to fail in their re-election bids. The former minister for Brexit opportunities lost to Labour’s Dan Norris, who won with 20,739 votes. Sir Jacob took 15,420, while Reform UK took 7,424, the Liberal Democrats 3,878, and the Greens 3,222. Sir Jacob, who was knighted last year, is among a number of senior Conservatives to have lost their seats, including Grant Shapps, Penny Mordaunt, and Johnny Mercer.Follow live updates on the general election hereJacob Rees-Mogg was beaten by some 5,000 votes More