Program: UK election sees landslide victory for Starmer's Labour Party

Samantha Donovan: The Labor Party has swept to power in the United Kingdom. It's won more than 400 of the 650 seats in Parliament and will form a majority government. The victory marks the end of 14 years of conservative rule, led by five prime ministers, David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, and Rishi Sunak. It appears the vote for the Tories is the lowest in the party's history. Sir Keir Starmer will be the new prime minister. He told supporters a mandate like that achieved by Labor comes with great responsibility.

Keir Starmer: Our task is nothing less than renewing the ideas that hold this country together. National renewal. Whoever you are, wherever you started in life, if you work hard, if you play by the rules, this country should give you a fair chance to get on. It should always respect your contribution and we have to restore that. The fight for trust is the battle that defines our age. Service is the precondition for hope. Respect the bond that can unite a country. Country first, party second. CHEERING

Samantha Donovan: The Tory Prime Minister Rishi Sunak conceded defeat.

Rishi Sunak: The Labor Party has won this general election and I have called Sir Keir Starmer to congratulate him on his victory. Today, power will change hands in a peaceful and orderly manner with goodwill on all sides. That is something that should give us all confidence in our country's stability and future.

Samantha Donovan: Voters' appetite for change was clear at this election party at a London nightclub.

Opinion: My immediate reaction is I am delighted that Labor got so many seats and I hope the Tories might get a bit less than that in the end. I really want to see the smiles wiped off their faces.

Opinion: I am rather bitterly disappointed that the Tories got quite so many seats.

Opinion: I'm really pleased. I'm cautiously optimistic that we're going to have some competent governance moving forward. That's all I hope for.

Samantha Donovan: Well, for his analysis of the UK election result, I spoke to the ABC's global affairs editor, John Lyons, in London.

John Lyons: It's a devastating result, obviously, for the Conservatives. That was what was expected and it has occurred. There was predicted to be a landslide according to all the opinion polls and that's what's happened. The other elements that really stand out to me are, firstly, the devastation of the Scottish National Party. Essentially, the Labor Party now really owns Scotland. And also, the Conservatives no longer have a single seat in Wales. So it's interesting that you have Scotland and Wales both now very much Labor heartland. And also, the success of the Liberal Democrats has been interesting and the rise of Nigel Farage's new incarnation as UK reform.

Samantha Donovan: The far-right Brexiteer, Nigel Farage, has won a seat. How has that party performed overall?

John Lyons: They've performed well. The exit poll initially suggested that they would get as many as 13 seats. It appears they will probably not get 13. It's not yet known what the final number will be. But it's clear that in many seats, had the Reform UK not contested the seats, then the Conservatives probably would have won some of those seats, retained some of those seats. And so, really, they have caused a lot of damage in terms of the Conservative side of politics.

Samantha Donovan: And how about the Liberal Democrats' performance, John? Where have they picked up seats?

John Lyons: They've picked up seats around the country. It was a successful campaign by them. They look like they're going to end up with about 61 seats, which is an increase of 53. So clearly, they position themselves really on the centre-left on a lot of issues. And so, for some people, it was seen as, you know, a happy medium between the Tories or the Conservatives and Labor.

Samantha Donovan: The last election was notable for England's north going against tradition and voting against Labor. What's happened there this time?

John Lyons: That's gone back to Labor, has abandoned the Tories and gone to Labor. One of the really important things of this result is it appears that it wasn't a surge of people who were fascinated or attracted to Labor or Sir Keir Starmer. It was very much anger directed at the Conservatives. So if there was a viable alternative, like Labor, like the Lib Dems, like Reform UK for some people, then they flocked to those. But it wasn't that Labor had suddenly won the imagination of the electorate. It was very much an anger and a protest vote against the Conservatives.

Samantha Donovan: And John, the Prime Minister or the outgoing Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, did actually hang on to his constituency. Quite convincingly, he didn't become the first PM to lose his seat, as was projected.

John Lyons: In a way, he's personally quite popular with some people. The vote, in a way, was not so much against him. In fact, he came in at the 11th hour and tried to offer some stability and some financial credibility after the disasters of Liz Truss, for example, who brought in billions of dollars of unfunded tax cuts. Liz Truss, by the way, former Prime Minister, has lost her seat, as have several other prominent members of the Conservative Party, some of who were seen as possible future leaders. Penny Mordaunt, for example, Leader of the House of Commons, has lost her seat. Alex Chalk, the Justice Secretary, has lost his seat. Grant Schaps, the Defence Secretary, who was in Australia recently with Richard Marles, has lost his seat, as has the Education Secretary, the Chief Science Secretary, the Culture Secretary, the Veterans Minister. It's a long list. This really, Labor really has cut a swathe through the Conservative Party, the oldest party in the UK.

Samantha Donovan: The ABC's global affairs editor, John Lyons, in London.