Skip next section How did the campaigns wrap up?
07/04/2024July 4, 2024
How did the campaigns wrap up?
On the final election campaign day, Wednesday, urged voters to “save the UK” from a Labour Party majority by voting Conservative.
Sunak had earlier insisted that “the outcome of this election is not a foregone conclusion.” But on Wednesday, he said in a message to voters: “If the polls are to be believed, the country could wake up tomorrow to a Labour supermajority ready to wield their unchecked power.”
Meanwhile, Labour leader Keir Starmer called on voters to “imagine a Britain moving forward together with a Labour government.”
According to opinion polls, Starmer’s center-left party is set for a win for the first time in 14 years.
An average of all polls completed during the week leading up to the election puts Labour on 39% — the party’s lowest rating since campaigning began, yet still 18 points ahead of the Conservatives on 21%.
Anti-immigration Reform UK is the third most popular, was a score of 16% on average in opinion polls, followed by the centrist Liberal Democrats on 11% and the Greens on 6%.
Also in the race are the pro-Scottish Independence Scottish National Party (SNP), the Welsh nationalist Plaid Cymru and Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).
A total of 543 Parliament seats are in England and 57 in Scotland, with 32 in Wales and 18 in Northern Ireland.
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Skip next section Economic concerns send voters to the polls
07/04/2024July 4, 2024
Economic concerns send voters to the polls
The UK economy came out of recession in the first quarter of 2024 with better-than-expected growth of 0.7%. Inflation also fell to the Bank of England’s target of 2% for the first time in three years, strengthening expectations that the central bank would cut its key interest rates later this summer.
But how much do the two main parties in the UK differ on economic policy? .
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Skip next section How does the UK election work?
07/04/2024July 4, 2024
How does the UK election work?
Millions of UK citizens are eligible to cast their votes in the general election.
Polls are open from 7 a.m. BST (0600 GMT) until 10 p.m. Counting starts immediately afterward, and the makeup of Parliament is usually declared in the early hours of the day after as constituency results are announced.
This year, a record 4,515 candidates are in the race. The candidate that finishes top in each constituency will be elected, even if they don’t get 50% of the vote.
To have an overall majority in Parliament, a political party must win over half of the 650 seats in the House of Commons.
The party that wins the most seats in the House of Commons at a general election typically forms the new government, and its leader becomes prime minister.
fb/sms (AP, dpa, Reuters)
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The post UK election: Polls open as Labour tipped for win over Tories appeared first on Deutsche Welle.
