The United Kingdom is headed for its general election on Thursday. By Friday morning India time, the world will get a clear idea on which way Britain has voted, Conservative or Labour. The answer is most likely Labour, with all opinion polls showing Leader of the Opposition, Keir Starmer’s party taking a huge lead of about 20 percentage points over the ruling Conservatives. This is an election that is unlikely to throw up any surprises and hence it’s more or less certain that Friday will see the end of the tenure of Britain’s first Hindu Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, who became PM in October 2022 and called for a snap general election a little over a month ago, in May 2024. The election was originally scheduled for around October-November, so Sunak’s decision to bring it forward surprised many, including his party colleagues. It seems that Sunak thought that he could use the latest good news coming on the economic front to get another term. In fact, Sunak’s performance as Prime Minister has been commendable, especially because of the way he pulled Britain out of the woods after the disastrous performances by his predecessors Boris Johnson and Liz Truss. First Covid and then the Russia-Ukraine war had an adverse economic fallout, with cost of living becoming high, and many people not able to afford three square meals a day, even as Britain sunk into a recession. Under Sunak, Britain has come out of recession, registering a 0.6% growth in the last quarter, the highest among the G-7 economies. Inflation is also under control and is going down. Ironically, his stellar performance will not help Sunak win the election, with analysts saying that the British have had enough of the economic and political turmoil under the Conservatives—three Prime Ministers in less than five years—and are in a mood to punish them, irrespective of who the PM is. The election will also test Sunak’s pull as a mass leader, for he was made Prime Minister by his party and not by the voters—a fact that the British media has not made the public forget even once in the time he has been PM.
With the Labour returning to power, the question uppermost on the minds of Indian origin Hindus in Britain is what Keir Starmer as Prime Minister will mean for them and for India. Lest we forget, Jeremy Corbyn, who led the Labour party from 2015 to 2020, was not seen as pro Hindu. He encouraged Labour’s Pakistani and Bangladeshi vote banks, both of which are essentially anti India and anti Hindu. Corbyn was also openly hostile to Narendra Modi. Under him Labour had taken a stand against India’s revocation of Article 370 in Kashmir and called for the Kashmiris’ right to self-determination, angering Indian origin voters. There was concern in New Delhi in 2019 how India-UK relations would fare if he became Prime Minister. But then he lost and Boris Johnson came to power. From a time earlier than 2019, it had become apparent that among the South Asians, a large chunk of the more affluent Indians were voting Conservative, while the Bangladeshis and Pakistanis were voting Labour, a party that identified itself with the working classes. Now that Rishi Sunak is on the ballot, it is expected that the Indian origin people would vote Conservative in a big way, but that’s unlikely to make much of a difference in the Conservative tally. However, Starmer too has been courting the Hindus, who expect him to clamp down on the hate campaign unleashed against them by a particular demography. Britain has been witnessing an exponential rise in Hinduphobia. Let’s not forget the case of Leicester, where Hindus were the victims of the radicalised population, but were branded as extremists and aggressors by the British media. Add to this the Khalistani problem, and Starmer has his work cut out to ensure that the Hindu hate nurtured by these extremists is not mainstreamed. Starmer has promised that he will not tolerate Hinduphobia. During campaigning he has also told the Hindu community, “If we’re elected next week we will strive to govern in the spirit of seva to serve you and a world in need… Strengthened by Hindu values, you’re not only contributing massively to our economy, you’re bringing innovation and expertise that keeps us competitive on the global market.”
When seen in the context of the elections taking place in the EU, the election in Britain is different because the outcome is expected to be tilted towards the left, while the EU is witnessing a rise of the right. At the heart of the EU elections is the problem of illegal immigration. In the UK, the Conservatives are accusing the Labour of planning to give asylum to illegal immigrants, which the Labour denies. This is a hot button topic and if Starmer tries to take the route of the American “progressives” and allows illegal immigration unchecked, then there will be political repercussions that will not be good for the Labour.
As for India-UK relations, Starmer has cast aside Jeremy Corbyn’s anti-India hostility and has promised better relations with New Delhi. His party claims that it has cleansed itself of anti-India elements. Recently, one of the Labour shadow ministers, Anneliese Dodds said, “Going beyond warm words, we want to build that practical, strong relationship (with India). Labour has talked a lot about a strategic partnership with India that covers trade but we want to see cooperation in other areas as well such as new technologies, environment, security.” These are encouraging words. It is with this in mind that India will watch the UK election results on Friday.