“WE DID IT,” said Labour leader Keir Starmer after a landslide victory that returned over 410 seats for his party.
Labour is currently up 211 seats on its 2019 performance, while the Conservative party is down a massive 250.
A big Labour win was predicted in poll after poll, and Starmer vowed to “hit the ground running” as soon as he enters 10 Downing Street.
Indeed, Starmer will begin making his Cabinet appointments as early as 2pm this afternoon after visiting Buckingham Palace.
But what is in store for the symbolic first 100 days in office after the General Election for the new Labour government.
Here’s some of the key moments to look out for.
Starmer will officially become UK prime minister later this morning, with the handover in power taking place at rapid speed.
Former PM Rishi Sunak will tender his resignation in an audience with King Charles, which will be followed by a Starmer visit to be formally appointed.
Starmer will then address the UK for the first time as prime minister from Downing Street, before being briefed by civil servants and starting to form his government.
Legislative priorities and the timing of any major policy announcements will also need to be worked out.
Starmer’s chief of staff Sue Gray, who owned a pub in Newry in the 80s, will likely be involved in decisions about how the centre of government will be structured.
Cross-departmental “mission boards” are expected to be created to make progress on Labour’s key pledges – economic growth, the NHS, crime and justice, clean energy and improving opportunity.
There are several policy changes Labour could make within days.
One is on Sunak’s stalled multimillion-pound Rwanda deportation scheme, which Labour has said it would axe on “day one”.
Labour will instead launch a new border security command, appoint “hundreds of new specialist investigators” and “use counter-terror powers to smash criminal boat gangs” in a bid to curb Channel crossings.
Kickstarting homebuilding is a top priority for the party, with Starmer hinting about at least three announcements in the first few weeks.
This could include allowing parts of the green belt to be developed, and the recruitment of hundreds more planning officers.
Labour’s Wes Streeting, the incoming health secretary, has vowed to make his first call to junior doctors’ leaders on the day after the election to try to end long-running strikes over pay in England.
The de facto ban on onshore wind farms could be reversed within weeks, and a year-long strategic defence review of the UK’s military capabilities launched.
Other immediate issues the new government may have to confront include prisons, amid fears jails could run out of space within days.
The new UK Parliament will be summoned to meet, the Commons Speaker elected, and MPs’ swearing-in could begin.
This will be Starmer’s first opportunity to speak from the House of Commons as prime minister.
Just days after his appointment, Starmer will be propelled onto the international stage, jetting to Washington DC for the Nato leaders’ summit, where discussions will include support for Ukraine.
The Labour leader may hold bilateral meetings with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US President Joe Biden.
King Charles will open the new parliamentary session and deliver the King’s Speech setting out the government’s legislative programme.
Labour is expected to legislate to establish the centrepiece of its green energy plans – Great British Energy, a new publicly-owned company that will invest in renewables and nuclear projects.
The speech is also expected to include legislation empowering the Office for Budget Responsibility to publish forecasts of any major tax and spending changes, after Liz Truss’s ill-fated mini-budget came without projections from the fiscal watchdog.
Other new laws could be to crack down on antisocial behaviour through a crime and policing bill, gradually nationalise the railways, set up a new parliamentary ethics and integrity commission, and reform the planning system and the current mental health legislation.
Labour has also indicated it will resurrect some pieces of legislation Sunak promised but failed to enact before he called the election, including plans for a smoking ban for under-15s and to end no-fault evictions.
After the Nato summit, Starmer will have another opportunity to meet global leaders as he hosts a gathering of the European Political Community, the body that brings all 27 EU member countries together with 20 others from outside the bloc.
He will welcome around 50 heads of government to Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, giving him a chance to set the tone for his government’s approach to the UK’s relationship with the EU.
While Labour has ruled out rejoining the single market or customs union, the party is seeking improved trade ties with the bloc.
Starmer is also aiming to deepen co-operation by signing a new UK-EU security pact.
Before Sunak called the election, summer recess was scheduled to start on 23 July.
However, this would not have left enough time for the usual six sitting days to debate the King’s Speech, Starmer is expected to cut short MPs’ customary six-week summer break so that it only covers August.
Labour could also create a number of new peers to bolster the party’s representation in the House of Lords and help push through its legislative programme.
The month will be dominated by party conferences, with Labour gathering in Liverpool from 22-25 September for its first conference while in power for many years.
The Liberal Democrats will meet in Brighton from 14-17 September, and the Tories in Birmingham from 29 September to 2 October.
The first budget is expected in September or October.
It comes as Labour faces tough choices over the public finances.
Official forecasts imply major spending cuts, but Labour is gambling on economic growth generating the tax receipts to avoid a return to austerity.
The autumn statement will include measures detailed in Labour’s manifesto, such as scrapping the VAT exemption on private school fees and extending the windfall tax on energy companies.
Labour has ruled out raising income tax and VAT and aims to keep corporation tax capped at 25%.
-With additional reporting from Diarmuid Pepper
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