Keir Starmer led the Labour Party to a historic landslide in the 2024 UK general elections, ending 14 years of Conservative rule. With exit polls projecting 410 seats for Labour and only 131 for the Conservatives, Starmer faces significant challenges as the new Prime Minister. He must address economic issues and social divisions. We interviewed Nabanita Sircar from London over the election results. The election also highlights the emergence of a more diverse Parliament, mirroring the UK's evolving demographics.
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00:00Hello and welcome to this special broadcast on One India. Joining me today is Namanita Sarkar,
00:05senior journalist all the way from London and what a place to be here. Namanita,
00:10thank you so much for speaking to One India. Thank you. Thank you for having me.
00:16Absolutely. It's a pleasure, Namanita, because as the world or this part of the world woke up,
00:22especially in India, Rishi Sunak had by that time lost the elections and UK has a new government,
00:30has a new Prime Minister. What factors contributed to Mr K Rustomer's Labour Party
00:36achieving such a significant majority, winning over 400 seats out of the 650 in UK Parliament,
00:43a feat not seen in decades? Yeah, it's just one seat short since Tony Blair's
00:51thumping majority and the point is 14 years of the Tory government,
00:57COVID, their party, all the COVID parties, it's been a mess and plus when
01:06and the way there's been chaos within the Tory party, Liz Truss came and completely smashed the
01:10economy. I think people were exhausted, they just wanted the Tories out because the amount of
01:17corruption that's gone on is, we haven't seen it in the UK politics, not at
01:24this rate and on the other hand, I think what Keir Starmer did was after Jeremy Corbyn
01:32drove the Labour Party back to the centre. So it's like, it's a new Labour point two, new Labour was
01:42during Tony Blair's time, this is new Labour point two now. So it's more of a centrist party that is
01:50in place, it's not right and not extreme left. So I think that was the reason and people were
01:58basically fed up because if you see, although former Prime Ministers, both Boris Johnson
02:05and Theresa May did not contest from their seats but they were Tory strong seats.
02:10They've both gone to Liberal Democrats. Nine Cabinet Ministers have lost their election,
02:18so you can imagine, Tories have been decimated. Absolutely. You mentioned Liz Truss,
02:25Namanita and from Boris Johnson to Liz to Rishi Sunak, over the past five years, the impact,
02:32how do you see these changing faces? Was there a palpable impact? Was that something that
02:37costed them the elections? Definitely, there's been in fighting, everybody knows,
02:43nobody likes anybody within the Tory party and the extreme right wing of which Indian origin,
02:50Sohaila Braverman, who has unfortunately won her seat is another front runner and so has
02:58Preeti Patel, who we know is extremely right wing and very pro-BJP in India, if you ask me
03:06because she's been most vocal about it. They have both won their seats and Rishi Sunak,
03:14it wasn't his fault alone. I personally feel he didn't have the experience to be a Prime Minister.
03:20He had barely come into UK politics and too many things happened plus the way he got into
03:27office, the Boris Johnson camp did not like him because he was with Boris Johnson and he
03:34tried to blame everything on the previous government when he was Chancellor there.
03:37So it wasn't work, people couldn't trust him and he did not have the personality. I mean,
03:43his whole campaign was so silly, he kept saying don't give Labour a super majority,
03:50they will take away this, they will raise the taxes, we are the best people. Even in his
03:57conceding speech and just now he was in front of 10 Downing Street, he's left 10 Downing Street
04:03today with his wife standing behind him, spoke to the press, he apologised. But again, he says
04:09he's given a very good deal to the country and things like that. It hasn't worked and he should
04:14be graceful in his loss, in his defeat. Oh yeah, I am sorry is what he said. I mean,
04:22that if that is the beginning, then we can expect some more grace there. Nonetheless,
04:26Namanitha, going back in the past, you know, given that Brexit had played a role in the
04:31Conservative defeat, how might Keir Starmer's approach to the EU relations differ from that of
04:39Boris Johnson or Rishi Sunak for that matter? Significantly, I think President Macron from
04:47France was himself in a bad position, but he was one of the first foreign leaders to congratulate
04:53Keir Starmer because everybody in Europe is looking for a good relationship and the way
05:01Boris Johnson treated European countries and the way he spoke and behaved, it was just not done.
05:08Although Keir Starmer has said that we're not going to reverse the Brexit decision but don't
05:14forget, he has said it in the past few days, he's a remainer but he said it but don't forget
05:21this parliament is a bit different because Tories as opposition are in a very poor figure
05:28because they're just about 120 seats and what is important is although the extreme right reform
05:36party has four seats but don't forget the Lib Dems have gained a lot, they are 71 seats and
05:43the Green Party has I think five or four seats, there are independents, there are five of them,
05:51they're all pro-Gaza so the equations will be different. Mr Keir Starmer might be forced to take
06:03a much more lenient stand than what he was saying but I believe what he was saying was to win the
06:08elections because the red wall as it used to be called had moved to the Conservatives because
06:14they wanted Brexit and so I think he wanted to win back those votes. So we'll see once the
06:19parliament starts and what he does. Right, absolutely, I mean he's the man of the moment,
06:23he's the rising sun I would say and with such a strong mandate, I mean his leadership style and
06:29politics, if you can compare it with the influential British Prime Ministers like
06:34Margaret Thatcher or Tony Blair as we just discussed also, what challenges in your opinion
06:39Navneeta do you think Mr Starmer faces or might face in implementing his agenda now?
06:47One is going to be to restore the faith of the voters because voters in this country
06:55have totally lost faith in politicians because of the lies etc. He has said that he's going to,
07:02I mean this was during his campaign, he said that he's going to establish this anti-corruption
07:09commission because of the corruption that have happened in the last government. Plus his biggest
07:15thing will be the financial, the economy, getting it back online with everything.
07:23That will be his biggest challenge because the coffers, the treasury coffers are empty
07:30and how he manages to do that, they say, Labour has said that they are, they have kind of figured
07:38out where from, they work the mathematics but that will happen only once we see the parliament
07:44in action and see what is their plan to do but I think that's going to be the biggest challenge
07:50and of course re-establishing relations with the EU. Re-establishing relations.
07:57And the interesting part is, Mr Starmer has also said that he'll reduce the voting age to 16.
08:02So let's see what happens there. Oh well that would be a first.
08:08You know, Namrita, you know absolutely when you mention about the economy, the dying state
08:13coffers, that is something which is domestically is a huge huge challenge for the incoming
08:19Prime Minister. He said earlier that change begins now but Ukraine is another matter.
08:26What does he mean by this and will this, what will be his exact foreign policy amid
08:32multiple wars going on? Ukraine, I think both Tories and Labour have been in sync, in agreement.
08:42Israel and Gaza, now that is a situation where I think he'll have to reconsider his position
08:54though in his manifesto, in the Labour manifesto definitely there's been a mention of a two-state
08:59solution, there's been a mention of what the UN stand is. So now we'll have to see because
09:07a lot of his, a few of his MPs and they have lost a lot of Muslim votes. Labour has
09:12lost a lot of Muslim votes, don't forget that. That was a huge vote bank they had and some of his MPs
09:18resigned at the last minute because he wasn't taking a clear stand on the Israel-Palestine
09:24situation. So I think there has to be a reworking but America's position given the way it is,
09:32how much of a reworking stand he'll be able to take will again be very interesting and I'm,
09:37and I'm because the independents that have come in are pro-Gaza so it will be very interesting.
09:44It's a tightrope walk then, it's a tightrope walk because whether you continue with the legacy
09:48of supporting the US and its cause or maybe you choose to, to align in between. Now Marita,
09:54one final question before I let you go and I'm sure the day is still very young there,
09:59a new day, a new dawn has happened, taken place in UK. I haven't slept all night so.
10:05I can imagine, I can, we keep, kept disturbing you also for a, for this quick interview. Thank
10:10you so much. One final question, given the huge Indian diaspora that the UK houses,
10:17what is Mr Samar's view on Narendra Modi and how do you think this new relationship between India
10:24and UK, foreign relations, you know, could take a new shape, could change in the days to come?
10:30I think on that count, see there has been a shift of Indian voters since 2010 towards conservative
10:39after when David Cameron was there and he really made an effort to recruit more Indians into the
10:45party etc and he promised that you'll have a Indian prime minister very soon which did happen
10:52and but with Labour, a lot moved out. Although Labour, you know, government when the, when
11:00Indians moved here in the 60s and 70s, it was majorly Labour supporters. So the affluent and
11:06after BJP, Modi, the right-wing Hindus moved towards the conservative but Labour this year,
11:12earlier this year established some, you know, community groups for Indians etc.
11:18The relationship with India, I think the FTA that Rishi Sonak failed to conclude, I think
11:26this person is a very pragmatic leader and I have a feeling that this might actually work out
11:36in favor of both the UK and India and he might be able to conclude that FTA but yes,
11:42on issues of human right violations or something, if India is there like Rishi Sonak used to just
11:49shut up about it. I don't think because he's been a human rights barrister and I think there his
11:56stand will be a little more strident but I don't fear, I mean a lot of
12:06Indian government officials have asked me in the past that can you, how is
12:11Labour going to be with India? I don't think there's going to be any kind of a staunch thing.
12:15The whole concept of Kashmir and all had gone out of the window after Robin Cook so
12:21and I have been part of that. So I don't think that plebiscite issue and all will come back.
12:26Absolutely, good to hear that Namrita and good to hear from you also on this very fateful day.
12:31Thank you so much ladies and gentlemen. Namrita Sarkar there all the way from London on the new
12:37government that has just been formed in the UK. Namrita have a very good day.