Labour predicted to win ’super majority’ in UK polls

Voters will elect a new Parliament on Thursday, with predictions of a landslide Labour win that would make Keir Starmer prime minister.

“According to the polls, and I think it's quite certain that it will happen in this way, the Labour Party will be the new government in Britain, and the Conservative Party, which has governed for 14 years, will be very drastically reduced in terms of their share in Parliament," said Duvenhage. 

A major driver for voters in the election is the economy, their healthcare system, and immigration. 

“First is the economy of Britain, the fact that the income of the average citizen has stagnated in the last decade,” said Duvenhage.

“Housing is very expensive in Britain, and very importantly, Britain is struggling with its National Health Service, so that will have to be corrected.”

Immigration is also a hot topic, according to Duvenhage.

“There is a huge debate in Britain about the inability of the Conservative government, and it could be the case also of a Labour government, of stemming the tide of immigration to Britain.”

Duvenhage said voters are not necessarily voting in favour of the Labour Party rather than against the Conservative Party. 

-- The 14 Years of Conservative Rule --

The Conservative Party has been in government for the last 14 years, ever since David Cameron succeeded Gordon Brown as prime minister in 2010. 

As per tradition, Queen Elizabeth II asked David Cameron to form a government after the Conservative Party managed to get a majority in the Commons by forming a coalition with the Liberal Democrats. 

During this time, he instituted constraints on government spending, known as austerity.  

He then oversaw some important moments in the UK, like the London Olympics in 2012, the passing of same-sex marriage legislation, and defeating the Scottish independence movement when Scotland voted to remain part of the UK. This time also saw an increase in anti-EU members in the Conservative Party. 

In 2015, Cameron managed to get a majority of seats in the Commons in the election. 

Cameron called the Brexit referendum in 2016 even though he was in support of remaining in the European Union (EU). By a 51.9% majority, the country decided to leave the EU leading to a tumultuous period for the Conservative Party, with Cameron resigning the premiership. 

The party then chose Theresa May to replace Cameron, and her most difficult job would be to deliver Brexit despite her support for the Remain campaign. In 2017 May called an early election with the hopes to increase her majority, in order to get a Brexit deal through parliament more easily. 

This election however turned out to be a big mistake, as the Conservatives lost its small majority in the Commons and had to form a minority government with the support of the 

Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). 

After failing to get a Brexit deal through the Commons twice in devastating votes, she resigned the premiership in 2019. Boris Johnson succeeded May promising he could deliver a Brexit deal. Johnston called an election in December 2019, where his party gained 47 seats resulting in an outright majority for the party. 

A Brexit bill was then passed by the House of Commons, with the UK officially leaving the EU on the 31st of January 2020, the same date that the country recorded its first COVID-19 case. Johnson was embroiled in scandal after it emerged that he and his staff at the official residence & offices of the Prime Minister, Number 10 Downing Street, held various parties while the rest of the country was on lockdown. 

Johnson resigned after 46 ministers resigned and rebuked his leadership amid the scandals from the lockdown parties. 

This led to the shortest premiership in the UK's modern history after Liz Truss served only 49 days as PM, being out-lasted by a head of lettuce. She resigned after a disastrous proposed mini-budget which saw a rise in UK mortgages. During her brief tenure, the Queen died and saw the first royal succession in more than 70 years. 

After Truss left as PM, the conservative party tapped its current PM Rishi Sunak. He has made immigration a key issue in this election, with his signature Rwanda plan. 

The Rwanda plan will send asylum seekers in the UK to Rwanda for them to apply for asylum in that country. This controversial plan was first stopped by the highest court ruling that Rwanda was not a safe country to send asylum seekers. 

Sunak then passed a bill declaring Rwanda to be a safe country, but many speculate whether the UK might still be stopped from going through with this plan by the European Court of Human Rights, to which the UK still belongs. 

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