Sir Keir holds the weakest public mandate ever recorded for any UK government in history — so weak, even a paper straw feels sturdy in comparison.
Official data is beginning to emerge regarding the UK’s overall financial state following the handover of economic management from Rishi Sunak and the Conservative government to the new Labour government led by Sir Keir Starmer and his Chancellor, Rachel Reeves. In this Boxing Day report, let’s take a moment to appreciate the extraordinary electoral plot twist that brought Labour to power — like a political soap opera, but with fewer cliffhangers and more spreadsheets. This sets the stage for what I hope will become essential reading, as I plan to publish regular updates to monitor the Government’s policies and their impact — both positive and negative — on our daily lives (and hopefully our wallets). Stay tuned; it might even be more entertaining than binge-watching Parliament TV!
In the General Election held on 5 July 2024, Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party pulled off a victory so commanding it could have been mistaken for a Netflix drama. With a whopping 174-seat majority in Parliament, you’d think they had the nation’s hearts — until you realize they managed this feat with just 20% of the total votes from the electoral register. That’s right, only one in five eligible voters thought, “Yeah, let’s go with Labour.” Among those who actually bothered to vote, Labour’s share was a modest 33.7%, setting a record for the lowest percentage ever recorded for a winning party. It’s like winning the lottery with a ticket you almost forgot to buy. Oh, and they lost over half a million votes (560,000) compared to 2019. So, technically, fewer people wanted Labour in 2024, but hey, a win’s a win, right? Out of a population of nearly 68 million and a registered electorate of 48,208,507, only 9.7 million people voted Labour — roughly the population of London deciding the fate of the entire UK.
Meanwhile, the Conservative Party didn’t just lose; they face-planted so hard it left an imprint in the history books. Their share of the total available vote was a paltry 14.2%. Among actual voters, it climbed to 23.7%, but let’s not get carried away with optimism. Only 6.8 million people gave the Tories their vote, making it the worst performance in the party’s history. They didn’t just lose seats — they haemorrhaged them, with a jaw-dropping 251-seat loss. To add insult to injury, 12 Cabinet ministers and former Prime Minister Liz Truss were shown the door. It was less of an election and more of a political yard sale where the Conservatives sold off their credibility at bargain-bin prices. This was the largest single-seat loss ever experienced by any party in British political history. If the Tories were a football team, they’d be relegated to a league that doesn’t even exist.
Labour holds the weakest mandate from the British public of any government in history.
In summary, Sir Keir Starmer’s government managed to climb into power with the kind of popular support that makes lukewarm tea seem exciting. This historic low in enthusiasm surely deserves a round of applause — or perhaps just a polite cough. Naturally, this means the Government’s policies and actions should face even more scrutiny than a toddler with a marker near a white wall. In my upcoming series of reports, I’ll dive into these matters with all the official data I can get my hands on — because someone has to, right?
