Britain Votes Today; Future of PM Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer’s Labour at Stake

Britain goes to the polls on Thursday. The future of Rishi Sunak as Britain’s Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party is at stake I nthis election.

Around 46.5 million British citizens are eligible to vote in the election. They will elect members of Parliament across 650 constituencies. Any party required 326 MPs for a majority. Sunak is facing anti-incumbency of Tories, who are 14 years in power. As per reports, he was trailing far behind 61-year-old Keir Starmer-led Labour Party throughout the six-week campaign.

Sunak urged voters not to hand a “supermajority” to “tax-raising” Labour and Starmer played down the prospect of a landslide win for fear of a low turnout impacting the final outcome.

On Thursday, voting will be held in around 40,000 polling booths open across Britain from 7 am local time. Once the votes are cast and the booths officially close at 10 pm local time, the counting will commence. The first results expected just before midnight local time.

Polling experts have forecast a low turnout, which stood at 67 per cent in the last general election in December 2019.

As per opinion polls, the incumbent Tories are in line to win anywhere between 53 and 150 seats, with Labour projected to win a landslide.

The election, called by Sunak, is being held months earlier than necessary. In the 2019 General Election, the Conservative party won 365 seats. The Labour Party won 202 seats.