Not Rishi Sunak, These 4 Things Are To Blame For Conservatives' Worst-Ever Defeat

The United Kingdom (UK) just went into the elections and the results of the Labour victory were as expected across the spectrum. However, what no one expected was the scale of victory achieved by Labour.

Keir Starmer’s party marched on to win 412 seats of the 680 seats — this was the best Labour performance or best performance by any party since 1997, when Tony Blair’s Labour routed John Major’s Tories and their 19 years of government by winning 418 seats.

What went so horribly wrong for Rishi Sunak’s Tories and is it fair to solely blame the outgoing Prime Minister?

1. HIGHLY UNSTABLE GOVERNMENT

The UK has had four Prime Ministers since 2019. Theresa May resigned failing to deliver a timely Brexit on July 24, 2019, paving way for Boris Johnson, who led Tories to their third straight victory in the 2019 General Elections. Almost a year later, as Covid struck, Johnson was caught in a ‘Partygate’ wherein his cabinet and he were caught partying at 10 Downing Street, when the country was in lockdown in late 2021. Things went downhill for the Oxford alumnus and he was forced to resign on September 6, 2022.

He was replaced by Liz Truss, who took oath and then…well….resigned. She just stayed the UK Prime Minister for 50 days. She handed over an already struggling UK economy to Rishi Sunak, who took oath as the UK’s 57th Prime Minister on October 25, 2022.

This instability and the passing of the parcel of the Prime Ministerial position had a major role in the current UK General Elections, with the Brits giving a mandate against any further possible confusion.

2. HIGH INFLATION

The third term for the Tories saw undeniable economic challenges, including inflation seeing historic highs.

Tories resumed their third term with a highly stable 1.5 per cent inflation rate in 2019-20. This skyrocketed to a high of 11.1 per cent in November 2022, which was possibly the highest in 40 years. Sunak took charge of the country at this dire stage.

As Sunak said, he really did his best to calm down the double digits and brought down inflation to 2.3% in April 2024. But the double digit inflation seen in the last three months of 2022 had already damaged any remaining prospects for the Conservatives.

3. HEALTH INFRASTRUCTURE A SHAMBLES

The UK’s once celebrated health unit, the NHS or National Health Service (NHS), is, if expressed politely, in a complete mess. NHS nurses and staff in different parts of the UK regularly went on strikes demanding better pay and working conditions. The reason? The NHS is completely understaffed and has been relying majorly on temporary workers. A report published in January 2024 disclosed that the organisation had spent 10 billion pounds on temporary workers alone.

Since healthcare is free in the UK and completely part of state services, the anger over the incapability of the NHS fell on the ruling Tories, who were accused of secretly trying to privatise the NHS.

4. SEVERE COST OF LIVING CRISIS

According to an Office for National Statistics (ONS) survey from May 2024, 55% of adults in Great Britain reported an increase in their cost of living compared to the previous month. Low-income households were most affected by rising prices. ONS data showed that households with the lowest incomes experienced a higher than average inflation rate, while the highest income households experienced lower than average inflation. This disparity is due to low-income households being more affected by high food and energy prices. The rise in price of basic essentials and a corresponding fall in incomes made a server dent in Conservative’s prospects towards winning the election.

FAIR TO MAKE RISHI SUNAK THE PUNCHING BAG?

Even though Sunak, in his outgoing address, took the blame for his party’s worst ever performance and repeatedly apologized, is it really fair to blame the UK’s first brown Prime Minister for this bloodbath?

It might not be a good idea, because when Sunak was given the responsibility to lead the UK, Tories were already written off by pollsters. He, in turn, rescued Britain from going into a sinking hole of skyrocketing inflation and brought in measures such as raising minimum wage limits and pulling the UK out of recession.

In fact, the final nail in the coffin was struck once Truss had put down her papers in October 2022.