Sunak vs Starmer: Polling across UK opens for general elections; Issues like economy, tax immigration in focus for voters

LONDON, UK: As polling stations in the United Kingdom opened for voting on Thursday in historic snap general elections in the country, it becomes significant to see how issues like economy, tax, and immigration turn the tide for contenders, including current Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Polling opened at 7 am (local time) today and will close at 10 pm.

The six-week campaign that saw all major parties comb the nation will end today with the voting to decide the next Prime Minister of the country.

Voters in a total of 650 constituencies across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland will cast their votes in the election.

A party needs to win at least 326 out of 650 parliamentary seats and the leader of that party becomes prime minister.

The status of Britain’s public services, the cost of living, taxes, immigration, and the economy will remain major subjects, around which much of the debate during the campaigns have revolved, according to CNN.

The subject of Britain’s relationship with European Union, which it left in 2020 following a referendum held four years earlier, has, however, been largely ignored in the discussion.

In late May this year, Sunak called for a snap vote, which came as a surprise for many in his party.

It is under the leadership of Keir Starmer, that the opposition Labour party has recovered from its worst defeat since 1935 in the last general election.

Since Boris Johnson easily won the most recent general election in 2019, Britain has had three prime ministers from the Conservative party.

However, a large portion of the nation and his party lost interest in Johnson, and in 2022, members of the Conservative party chose Liz Truss to succeed him as prime minister, making her the shortest-serving Prime Minister in British history, CNN reported.

Then, Sunak was chosen by Conservative Members of Parliament (MPs) to succeed her.

One of the most well-known champions of Brexit, Nigel Farage, declared throughout the campaign that he would be rejoining the political scene to head the fledgling hard-right Reform UK party.

Photo by Phil Noble/POOL/AFP

-ANI