UK election latest: Starmer giving speech in Edinburgh as he kicks off tour of UK nations (2024)

Sir Keir Starmer is now speaking, with Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar introducing him to a small crowd to rapturous applause.

After a long intro from his Scottish colleague, Sir Keir says it's "hugely important" for him to visit the devolved nations as soon as possible.

"That was an incredible election result, a historic result and a real mandate for change - we start here," he says.

He says there's nothing "inevitable" about an election win, adding "we won because we campaigned as changed Labour".

"We [will] govern in the same spirit... we will serve the entirety of Scotland, we will serve every single person in Scotland because that change matters to everyone."

Sir Keir Starmer is giving a speech following a meeting with Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar in Edinburgh this afternoon.

It comes at the start of the PM's first UK tour - once he's finished north of the border he'll be going to Wales and Northern Ireland.

His Scotland visit will also include a meeting with John Swinney, the first minister and SNP leader.

You can watch his speech in the stream above.

The prime minister has welcomed comments made by the IrishTaoiseach during an interview with Sky News.

You can see Simon Harris and Sir Keir Starmer's interaction in the embedded X post below…

It comes after Mr Harris promised he and fellow EU leaders would give the new prime minister a "fair hearing" when it comes to possible changes to the post-Brexit trade deal.

Sir Keir has repeatedly described it as "botched" and said during the election campaign he'd look to improve it - but with no return to the single market, customs union, or freedom of movement.

You can read Ireland correspondentStephen Murphy's full interview with Mr Harris here.

It's been a busy week and weekend - so it's easy to miss key moments.

Need a catch-up on the last few days of history-making political drama?

Watch below…

The youngest MP set to enter the Commons says he is "a little bit frustrated" when questions are asked about his life experience.

Sam Carling, 22, is the new representative of North West Cambridgeshire, having beaten veteran Conservative Shailesh Vara by a razor-thin 39-vote margin.

'Baby of the House'

He graduated from the University of Cambridge last year and has been a councillor at Cambridge City Council since 2022, according to his LinkedIn.

"I always get a little bit frustrated when people mention life experience because no one has yet been able to explain to me why being older makes you better at that job," he told BBC Breakfast.

"I have had experiences that lots of older MPs won't have had, and I have done quite a lot for my age as well," he said, pointing to his position in the council cabinet overseeing £17m of public money.

Mr Carling will be nicknamed "baby of the House" when he enters the Commons, taking over the tradition from fellow Labour MP Keir Mather.

The Father of the House will be Sir Edward Leigh, 73, who has served continuously since 1983.

Some had thought Jeremy Corbyn would gain the title - but he was sworn in 20 places behind Sir Edward in the queue that year.

Sir Edward held hisGainsborough seat on Thursday, albeit with a much reduced majority of 3,532 - 30 percentage points fewer than in 2019.

Mother of the House goes toDiane Abbott, 70, who was elected in 1987 as the first black woman to win a seat in the House of Commons.

She was re-elected with a huge mandate on Thursday - 59.5% of the vote and a majority of more than 15,000.

The prime minister has embarked on a tour of the UK today following his general election victory.

Sir Keir Starmer is kicking off the multi-stop trip in Edinburgh, where he'll meet the Scottish first minister, John Swinney.

We've just received these pictures from the Press Association of the PM leaving the rear entrance of Downing Street earlier today.

We're expecting an update from his Scotland trip in the next few hours.

It comes after Labour became the dominant party north of the border for the first time in more than a decade, as the SNP collapsed.

Lady Victoria Starmer has never done an interview - and according to the prime minister, that's not about to change.

As her husband prepares to lead the country after winning a historic landslide, not a huge amount is known about his wife, who likes to keep a low profile.

Despite not hearing from her, she has been visible; quietly by her husband's side when he held his Holborn and St Pancras seat in the historic vote, when he gave his victory speech, and when he took his first steps in Downing Street as prime minister.

In contrast to Rishi Sunak's wife, Akshata Murty, who introduced him with a speech at the Tory conference and gave a sit-down on-camera interview to Grazia where she talked about chores and her favourite family activities, we don't often see or hear from Lady Victoria.

Here we take a closer look at what we know about the UK's new "First Lady".

By Alessandra Rizzo, assistant editor

An unknown book about a boy wizard, Harry Potter, rolled off the presses, its publishers expecting to sell just 500 copies. Paparazzi hungered for exclusive photos of Princess Diana. And everywhere, you heard the Spice Girls telling you to spice up your life.

The year was 1997, and it was the last time, until now, that Labour had seized power from the Tories, kicking a Conservative prime minister out of Downing Street.

Then as now, Labour won a landslide victory, ending more than a decade of Tory government - 18 years in 1997 and 14 years now.

But while it's tempting to draw parallels between Tony Blair and Keir Starmer, much has changed in Britain in the last 27 years.

Also on the media round today is Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey, who won a record number of seats for his party at this week's election.

Like Labour, analysts have noted how the party made the most of Britain's first past the post voting system, having ended up with 72 seats despite getting less votes nationally than Reform UK - who got five seats.

But the Lib Dems have previously made the case for changing to proportional representation, something Reform leader Nigel Farage has called for since the results were confirmed.

Lib Dems will 'make case' for proportional representation

Sir Ed was asked by the BBC if it was fair Reform got many more votes than the Lib Dems but ended up with far fewer seats.

He said: "The Liberal Democrats have long argued for fair votes and long argued for electoral reform and proportional representation.

"We want to improve our democracy, our politics is broken, and so we're going to continue to make that case."

He acknowledged "it might mean there'll be people who are elected who we don't agree with", but said there were already "many people in the Conservative Party who seem to share the values and ideas of Reform".

'That's democracy'

Put to him that a change in voting system would have seen Reform replace the Lib Dems as the third-largest party in parliament, Sir Ed said: "People will get voted in who you don't agree with, under first past the post people in Reform have got elected too and people in the Conservative Party who were very close to Reform have got elected.

"That's democracy, that's allowing the people to express their will."

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has today spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

He told Mr Abbas that recognition of Palestine as part of the peace process was the "undeniable right of Palestinians".

And in a readout of the call with Mr Netanyahu, Downing Street said while Sir Keir vowed to continue the UK's "vital co-operation" with Israel against "malign threats".

He also "set out the clear and urgent need for a ceasefire" in Gaza, "the return of hostages and an immediate increase in the volume of humanitarian aid reaching civilians".

He added that it was "also important to ensure the long-term conditions for a two-state solution were in place, including ensuring the Palestinian Authority had the financial means to operate effectively".