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

As Britain is set for the historic snap elections on Thursday, it becomes more significant to see how issues like economy, tax, and immigration turn the tide for the contenders, including current Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

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 the 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. Throughout the day, Sunak, Starmer, Farage, and the leaders of all the other main parties are anticipated to attend at the local polling stations.

Predictions reveal that the vote will result in a Labour majority after more than a decade of Conservative rule under five leaders, including current PM Rishi Sunak and David Cameron, now foreign secretary. However, there is also an intensifying atmosphere of division as the hard-right party Reform, led by populist leader Nigel Farage, appears on track to improve on its performance in the 2019 elections, when it was known as the Brexit Party.

The past 15 years have seen the worst income growth in the UK for generations, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). In recent years, Britons have also been battling a cost-of-living crisis as prices surge and salaries stagnate. The Conservative and Labour parties have set out differing routes to fix the economy. (ANI)

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