Britons were voting on Thursday in a parliamentary election that is expected to bring Keir Starmer’s Labour Party to power, sweeping away Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives after 14 often turbulent years.

Opinion polls put Starmer’s centre-left party on course for a landslide victory but also suggest many voters simply want change after a period of infighting and turmoil under the Conservatives that led to five prime ministers in eight years.

This means Starmer, a 61-year-old former human rights lawyer, could take office with one of the biggest to-do lists in British history but without a groundswell of support or the financial resources to tackle it.

“Today, Britain can begin a new chapter,” Starmer told voters in a statement on Thursday. “We cannot afford five more years under the Conservatives. But change will only happen if you vote Labour.”

The country’s 40,000 polling stations opened at 6am GMT.

Sunak, 44, voted early with his wife, Akshata Murty, in the electoral district of Richmond in northern England that he represents in parliament. Starmer cast his ballot around 8:30am GMT with his wife in his north London constituency.

Having called the election months earlier than expected, Sunak has in recent weeks abandoned his call for a fifth consecutive Conservative victory, switching instead to warning of the dangers of an unchallenged Labour Party in parliament.

Sunak issued a fresh rallying cry to voters for election day, saying a Labour government would hike taxes, hamper economic recovery and leave Britain more vulnerable at a time of geopolitical tension — charges Labour deny.

“They will do lasting damage to our country and our economy — just like they did the last time they were in power,” Sunak said on Thursday. “Don’t let that happen.”

Long night

Voting began at 7am in more than 40,000 polling stations across the country, from church halls, community centres and schools to more unusual venues such as pubs and even a ship.

Voting ends at 10pm (9pm GMT) when an exit poll will give the first indication of the outcome. Detailed official results are expected in the early hours of Friday.

Results from the UK’s 650 constituencies trickle in overnight, with the winning party expected to hit 326 seats — the threshold for a parliamentary majority — as dawn breaks on Friday.

Polls suggest voters will punish the Tories after 14 years of often chaotic rule and could oust a string of government ministers, with talk that even Sunak himself might not be safe.

That would make him the first sitting prime minister not to retain his seat in a general election.

“I appreciate people have frustrations with our party,” he conceded on Wednesday. “But tomorrow’s vote… is a vote about the future.”

Endorsements

Sunak, 44, is widely seen as having run a dismal campaign, with anger over his decision to leave D-Day commemorations in France early the standout moment.

In new blows on Wednesday, The Sun newspaper switched allegiance to Labour — a key endorsement given the tabloid has backed the winner at every election for several decades.

It follows the Financial Times, The Economist and The Sunday Times as well as traditionally left-leaning papers The Guardian and The Daily Mirror, also endorsing the party.

Meanwhile, three large-scale surveys indicated Labour was on the brink of a record victory, with the Tories set for their worst-ever result and the centrist Liberal Democrats resurgent in third.

YouGov, Focaldata and More in Common all projected Labour would secure at least 430 seats, topping the 418 under Tony Blair in 1997.

The Conservatives could plunge to a record low of less than 127, the trio predicted.

The Lib Dems were tipped to scoop dozens of seats — up from their current tally of 15 — while Nigel Farage’s anti-immigrant Reform UK party was set to win a handful.

YouGov and More in Common both forecast the Brexit figurehead would finally become an MP at the eighth time of asking.

‘National renewal’

If the predictions are accurate, Sunak will on Friday visit the head of state, King Charles III, to tender his resignation as prime minister.

Starmer will meet the monarch shortly after to take up his invitation to head the next government — and become prime minister.

The Labour leader will then travel to Downing Street — the office and residence of British leaders — where he would be expected to deliver a speech before making ministerial appointments.

It would cap a remarkable political rise for the former human rights lawyer and chief prosecutor, first elected an MP in 2015.

He has promised a “decade of national renewal” but faces the daunting task of revitalising creaking public services and a flatlining economy.

Punishing government

If the opinion polls are correct, Britain will follow other European countries in punishing their governments after a cost of living crisis that stemmed from the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Unlike France, it looks set to move to the centre-left and not further right.

Labour has held a poll lead of between 15 and 20 points since shortly after Sunak was chosen by his lawmakers in October 2022 to replace Liz Truss who resigned after 44 days, having sparked a bond market meltdown and a collapse in sterling.

Modelling by pollsters predicts Labour is on course for one of the biggest election victories in British history, with a likely majority in parliament that would exceed those achieved by Tony Blair or Margaret Thatcher, although a high number of voters are undecided and turnout could be low.

Such an outcome would have been unthinkable at Britain’s last election in 2019 when Boris Johnson won a large victory for the Conservatives, with politicians predicting that the party would be in power for at least 10 years as Labour was finished.

Starmer, the former chief prosecutor of England and Wales, took over Labour from veteran socialist Jeremy Corbyn after it suffered its worst defeat for 84 years in 2019, and dragged it back to the centre.

Starmer could also benefit from a Labour recovery in Scotland after the Scottish National Party embarked on its own self-destructive path following a funding scandal.

At the same time, the Conservatives in Westminster have imploded, ripped apart by scandal under Johnson and the rancour that followed the vote to leave the European Union, and a failure to deliver on the demands of its broad 2019 voter base.

While Johnson destroyed the party’s reputation for integrity, Truss eroded its long-held economic credibility, leaving Sunak to steady the ship. During his time inflation returned to target from its 41-year high of 11.1 per cent and he resolved some Brexit tensions, but the polls have not budged.

Sunak’s election campaign has been hit by a string of gaffes. He announced the vote in driving rain, his early departure from a D-Day event in France angered veterans, and allegations of election gambling among aides reignited talk of scandal.

The unexpected arrival of Nigel Farage to lead the right-wing Reform UK has also eaten into the Conservatives’ vote, while the centrist Liberal Democrats are predicted to fare well in the party’s affluent heartlands in southern England.