UK election: A vote that could change the country’s political course

Elections are about to come to the United Kingdom. This Thursday, the country will choose a new House of Commons and a new government.

Voters will elect 650 lawmakers and the leader of the party that wins the most seats will become prime minister. The elections come at a time when Rishi Sunak's government is facing bad numbers in the polls.

In that regard, according to an AFP analysis, the Conservatives are expected to lose to the main opposition Labour Party after 14 years in power.

"Pessimism has taken hold these days among the Conservatives who are trying to make the defeat as honorable as possible, when the polls offer a broad Labour majority, in an election on Thursday from which the 650 seats in the House of Commons will emerge," AFP explained.

Meanwhile, the Conservatives, in a last-minute bid to add votes, received the backing of former head of government Boris Johnson on Tuesday in his first campaign appearance. The former prime minister insisted that to have a better economy and orderly immigration, voters must continue to support the Conservatives.

"If you want higher taxes, uncontrolled immigration and unnecessary kowtowing to Brussels (European Union), vote Labour on Thursday," Johnson told a Sunak election rally at the campaign finale picked up by AFP.

"If you want to protect our democracy and our economy and keep this country strong abroad ... then you know what to do, vote Conservative Party on Thursday," Johnson added.

Meanwhile, AFP recalled that the Labour Party, led by prime ministerial hopeful Keir Starmer, plans tax increases for certain taxpayers. Among them are private schools and companies in the hydrocarbon sector.

In addition, the Labour candidate promises to reduce immigration, without giving figures, pledging to eliminate the Conservative project to charter planes to Rwanda with irregular immigrants.

Both Conservatives and Labour have pledged to strengthen renewable energy production capacity, particularly offshore wind. But the Conservatives also want to grant new hydrocarbon drilling permits in the North Sea every year, while Labour says it will not issue any more.

Labour wants to create GB Energy, a public investment company in clean energy, and to set a 2030 ban on new cars running on gasoline or diesel, something Sunak had scheduled for 2035.