Influential media back Labour in UK general election
Two highly influential titles in the British press, the Financial Times (FT) and The Economist, are backing the Labour Party in Thursday’s general election, as is the conservative Sunday Times.
In an editorial in its Monday edition, the FT said it had no political allegiance and believed in “liberal democracy, free trade, private enterprise and an outward-looking United Kingdom”. That has “often aligned us more with the Conservatives”, but “this generation of Tories has ruined its reputation as the party of business”, it said.
While it has concerns about Labour’s “interventionist instincts and fervour for regulation”, it believes Keir Starmer’s Labour Party “is better placed today to provide the leadership the country needs”.
80-seat majority
Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives currently have an 80-seat majority in the 650-seat House of Commons, which the party won in 2019 under Boris Johnson. However, Labour are expected to secure a huge victory in Thursday's vote.
Analysis of polling by the BBC shows Labour with a lead of around 20 points over the Conservatives, with Nigel Farage’s anti-immigration Reform UK in third and the Liberal Democrats in fourth.
According to some polls, Sunak could become the first British prime minister in history to lose his own seat. The seats of Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and Defence secretary Grant Shapps are also under threat.
"This generation of Tories has ruined its reputation as the party of business"
The liberal weekly The Economist is also backing Labour. “The economic consensus in Britain has shifted away from liberal values — free trade, individual choice and limits to state intervention,” it said. Labour “has the greatest chance of tackling the biggest problem that Britain faces: a chronic and debilitating lack of economic growth”.
Finally, the Sunday Times, owned by right-wing Australian-American tycoon Rupert Murdoch, wrote in an editorial that the Conservatives had “lost the right to govern. Make way for Labour”.
The last Labour government lasted from 1997 to 2010, following Tony Blair’s landslide victory over John Major’s Conservatives. Starmer told the BBC last week that he would step aside as party leader if his party did not win.
Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer speaking at a campaign event in central London, 29 June 2024 © PHOTO PRESS ASSOCIATION
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