Hibapress
Labour leader Keir Starmer became the new prime minister of the United Kingdom on Friday, following his party’s landslide victory in the general election on July 4.
Labour, which has not held power since 2010, returns to Downing Street with a huge parliamentary majority of 174 votes after support for the Conservatives collapsed. Mr Starmer was formally appointed by King Charles III at Buckingham Palace, replacing Conservative leader Rishi Sunak, before heading to the prime minister’s official residence to deliver his first address to the nation.
From the steps of 10 Downing Street, the former prosecutor promised to “rebuild” the country, “brick by brick,” citing the need for affordable schools and housing and for things on which “working families like mine can build their lives.” While acknowledging that “changing the country will take time,” Mr. Starmer assured that work to achieve this would begin “immediately.”
The four nations of the United Kingdom “stand together again to face, as we have done in the past, the challenges of an insecure world,” he continued. Mr Starmer stressed that his government is committed to a “calm and patient rebuilding”, inviting all stakeholders to join his government in its “mission of national renewal”.
The Labour leader is expected to begin naming his new government on Friday afternoon, before it meets for the first time on Saturday. Labour has benefited from a dramatic fall in support for the Conservatives, who have lost 250 seats to a record 121.
