Page 3 - Rishi Sunak

UK elections: Who is Keir Starmer and what's his vision for UK-India ties?

Keir Starmer, the Centre-Left Labour Party's leader, is the current favourite to win UK's July 4 election and replace Rishi Sunak as Prime Minister

Can AI be the next UK PM? Well it's among the candidates seeking votes

UK elections: As many as 46.5 million Britons are eligible to vote in today's election to choose the members of the Parliament across 650 constituencies

Future of Rishi Sunak as PM hangs in balance as voting begins in UK polls

The future of Rishi Sunak as Britain's Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party hangs in the balance as polling booths opened across the UK on Thursday, with millions expected to turn out to cast their votes in the general election. Sunak, 44, is up against voter angst towards the incumbent Tories after 14 years in power and has had to contend with trailing far behind 61-year-old Keir Starmer led Labour Party throughout the six-week campaign. Both leaders wrapped up their poll pitches with contrasting messages Sunak urging voters to not hand tax-raising Labour a supermajority and Starmer playing down the prospect of a landslide win for fear of a low turnout impacting the final outcome. Candidates are being fielded for 650 constituencies across England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, with 326 required for a majority in the first past the post system. Besides the two main parties, voters will be choosing from a list of candidates representing the Liberal Democrats,

UK elections: Five questions ratings firms have for the new government

With a relatively modest 1.3 percentage point of GDP primary budget deficit likely this year, the UK isn't as far away from a debt-stabilizing balance as G7 peers the US, France and Italy are at least

UK to go to polls today; 46.5 mn voters to decide Rishi Sunak's fate

The future of Rishi Sunak as Britain's Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party hangs in the balance as the UK goes to the polls on Thursday. Around 46.5 million Britons are eligible to vote in the election. The electorate votes for members of Parliament across 650 constituencies with 326 required for a majority in the first past the post system. Sunak, 44, is up against voter angst against the incumbent Tories after 14 years in power and has had to contend with trailing far behind 61-year-old Keir Starmer-led Labour Party throughout the six-week campaign. Both leaders wrapped up their poll pitches with contrasting messages Sunak urging voters not to hand a "supermajority" to tax-raising Labour and Starmer playing down the prospect of a landslide win for fear of a low turnout impacting the final outcome. On Thursday, around 40,000 polling booths open across the country at 7 am local time as voters turn out to mark a cross next to their chosen candidate on a paper ballot

Here's all you need to know about Indians' voting rights in the UK

The United Kingdom is home to a 1.8 million strong Indian diaspora, which can significantly influence the upcoming electoral outcomes

UK polls to deliver a diverse Parliament, high number of British Indian MPs

The UK general election on Thursday is expected to deliver the most diverse Parliament in the country's history, including in the number of parliamentarians of Indian heritage likely to be elected from across the nation. According to an analysis by the British Future think tank, the Labour Party is set to have by far the largest number of ethnic minority MPs if the party wins an overall majority and even more in a landslide scenario. With around 14 per cent of MPs coming from an ethnic minority background this time, the analysis finds that the new Parliament will be closer than ever to reflecting the diversity of the British electorate. This election will see the biggest rise in ethnic minority representation and the most diverse Parliament ever, said Sunder Katwala, Director of British Future. In the space of 40 years, we'll have gone from zero to one in seven MPs being from an ethnic minority background. Britain is closing the gap between the diversity of Parliament and the ...

UK Election 2024: Key issues, candidates, and voting process explained

On July 4, voters across the United Kingdom will elect all 650 members of the House of Commons, with each member representing a local constituency

Frontrunners trade barbs on economy as UK poll campaign enters final day

Opinion polls show Starmer's Labour Party is set for a big win that would end 14 years of Conservative government

As UK poll campaigning enters final hours, Sunak tries to turn a corner

Rishi Sunak has covered thousands of miles in the past few weeks, but he hasn't outrun the expectation that his time as Britain's prime minister is in its final hours. United Kingdom voters will cast ballots in a national election Thursday, passing judgment on Sunak's 20 months in office, and on the four Conservative prime ministers before him. They are widely expected to do something they have not done since 2005: Elect a Labour Party government. During a hectic final two days of campaigning that saw him visit a food distribution warehouse, a supermarket, a farm and more, Sunak insisted the outcome of this election is not a foregone conclusion. People can see that we have turned a corner, said the Conservative leader, who has been in office since October 2022. It has been a difficult few years, but undeniably things are in a better place now than they were. Labour also is warning against taking the election result for granted, imploring supporters not to grow complacent about poll

Don't do something you regret, cautions UK PM Sunak in final push for votes

Once you make that decision on Thursday, there's no going back, he added

UK elections: Voters wonder if their votes will make a difference

A lot of politicians have promised change to voters in Hartlepool, a wind-whipped port town in northeast England. For decades, Labour Party representatives said they would fight for working people, even as well-paid industrial jobs disappeared. Later, Conservatives under then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson vowed to bring new money and opportunities on the back of Brexit. But as British voters prepare to elect a new government Thursday, Hartlepool's many problems persist. It has higher unemployment, lower pay, shorter life expectancy, more drug deaths and higher crime rates than the country as a whole. Opinion polls put centre-left Labour well ahead of the governing Conservatives nationwide, but many voters remain undecided and even more are jaded. To regain power after 14 years, Labour must win back disillusioned voters in Hartlepool and other northern towns where decades of economic decline have spawned health and social problems, and a deep sense of disillusionment. At the last .

Temple trail: Sunak, Starmer both try to woo British Hindu voters

On the final weekend of campaigning ahead of the UK general election on Thursday, both Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and the man who is fighting for his job at 10 Downing Street Labour Leader Keir Starmer, have hit the temple trail to woo British Hindu voters. While 44-year-old Sunak was at the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Neasden on Sunday to promise to keep trying to make the community proud, 61-year-old Starmer chose another north London Swaminarayan Temple in Kingsbury on Friday to reiterate his commitment to building a strategic partnership with India. The move follows a Hindu Manifesto' being launched by an umbrella group of British Hindu organisations for the first time ahead of a British general election, calling on elected representatives to take proactive steps to protect Hindu places of worship and tackle anti-Hindu hate. "This mandir stands as a great statement of the contributions that this community makes to Britain, said Sunak, in his speech at the iconic Neasden ..

Despite 20% lesser jobs on offer, starting pay in UK up 6.5% on year in May

The 6.5 per cent rise in advertised starting pay compared with a year earlier outstrips the 6.0 per cent rise in official wage data for the three months to April

Who is Keir Starmer, Labour leader favoured to win UK's July 4 election?

Dutiful, managerial, a bit dull Keir Starmer is no one's idea of a firebrand politician. The Labour Party hopes that is just what Britain wants and needs after 14 turbulent years of Conservative rule. Starmer, the centre-left party's 61-year-old leader, is the current favourite to win the country's July 4 election. Starmer has spent four years as opposition leader dragging his social democratic party from the left towards the political middle ground. His message to voters is that a Labour government will bring change of the reassuring rather than scary kind. A vote for Labour is a vote for stability economic and political, Starmer said after Prime Minister Rishi Sunakcalled the election on May 22. If opinion polls giving Labour a consistent double-digit lead are borne out on election day, Starmer will become Britain's first Labour prime minister since 2010. A lawyer who served as chief prosecutor for England and Wales between 2008 and 2013, Starmer is caricatured by opponents a

Rishi Sunak struggles with missteps while trying to lift Conservatives

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has portrayed himself as thorough and evidence-led throughout his relatively brief political career, but there's always been a nagging question over the keenness of his political antenna. The general election campaign over the past five weeks has clearly shown that he hasn't got the instinctive touch of some of his predecessors, such as Tony Blair or even Boris Johnson. Sunak's campaign has seen several missteps since he announced the July 4 election date in the pouring rain in late May, including his suspension of candidates mired in a scandal over betting on the date of the election a week after Labour Party leader Keir Starmer pressed him to do so. The biggest blunder one that prompted him to apologize was his decision to leave the 80-year D-day commemorations in northern France on June 6 early. Critics said the decision to skip the international event that closed the commemorations showed disrespect to the veterans and diminished the U.K.'s

UK general election betting scandal now engulfs Opposition Labour Party

The escalating scandal of candidates placing general election-related bets has widened from the British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak-led Conservative Party to engulf the Opposition Labour Party after its leader, Keir Starmer, suspended one of his candidates for betting against himself ahead of the July 4 polls. Kevin Craig is running to become Labour's member of Parliament for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich in eastern England, considered a safe Conservative seat. It was previously held by Dan Poulter, who defected from the Tories to Labour ahead of the election before exiting politics. On Tuesday, Craig took to social media to confirm his huge mistake of betting in favour of the Tories holding on to their stronghold. "A few weeks ago when I thought I would never win this seat I put a bet on the Tories to win here with the intention of giving any winnings to local charities, said the now-suspended Labour candidate. "While I did not place this bet with any prior knowledge of the ...

Uncertainty over general elections drags UK business growth to 7-month low

Opinion polls suggest Keir Starmer's Labour Party is set to return to power for the first time since 2010 as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's Conservatives head for a historic defeat

Incredibly angry over election date betting accusations: British PM

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said that anyone involved in using inside information to bet on the date of Britain's July 4 national election should be expelled from his Conservative Party. Sunak said on the BBC on Thursday that he was "incredibly angry, incredibly angry" to learn of allegations that Conservative politicians betted on the election date, and that they "should face the full force of the law" if they were found to have broken the law. "It's right that they are being investigated properly by the relevant law enforcement authorities," he said. "If anyone is found to have broken the rules, not only should they face the full consequences of the law, I will make sure that they are booted out of the Conservative Party." Two weeks ahead of the general election, it was an uncomfortable experience for Sunak, whose Conservative Party is trailing the main opposition Labour Party by 20 points by many polls ahead of the vote. Earlier, asked about reports that the UK's ..

Bank of England to keep rates at 16-year high of 5.25% before UK election

Last month the central bank forecast inflation would rise to around 2.6 per cent by the end of the year