Kyoda. I'm Chelsea Daniels and this is a bonus episode of The Front Page, a daily podcast presented by the New Zealand Herald. While the final results are set to trickle in slowly, the exit poll for the UK election has shown a historic landslide for the Labor Party. The pole suggests Sir Kurse Darma will be the next Prime minister of one of our closest allies, with a potential majority of one hundred and seventy seats, while the ruling Conservative Party is out after fourteen years of power and
has suffered their worst ever defeat to Boot. To discuss the seismic change in UK politics and what it might mean for a Kiwoe to London, we're joined now on the Front Page by former New Zealand political journalist turned expat Henry Cook. Henry, how significant is this landslide for Labor.
It's absolutely huge. Labour been out of power for fourteen years.
There are a lot of adults who are well into their working lives who had not seen a Labor government in their adult lives or maybe even political memory. It's also should we know that it's not been a gradual climb back to government for labor since threenty ten. They lost one of their worst ever election losses in twenty nineteen, just five years ago that was the last election.
So this landslide seeming landslide as we're looking at it right now.
While it's not quite as strong as maybe some of the you know, some of the poles of the last few days have shown, is still a massive, massive, massive victory for labor just five years after losing so badly, and a massive victory for Krestar for the income.
Prime Minister.
I've seen a lot of commentary actually in the last week about the fourteen years that broke Britain. Does the country feel broken to you? How does it feel when you move to there?
Line?
You know, there's been things about the UK that work fine.
You know, the supermarkets are very competitive and things are very cheap, but that you can go to Europe very easily, the air lines are very competitive, but there is the set I guess the real difference. It's not that things are broken now, it's that things are getting worse. I think that's what's what I find different about the UK versus what least the Newseum when I left, that is that there was a sense of market kind of a widely held sense that the best stays of behind them
and the things are getting worse. Whether the selection changes that, as you know, get to.
Be said.
And as big bend strikes ten, the exit poll is predicting a Labor landslide. Secure Starmer will become Prime Minister with a majority of around one hundred and seventy seats. The exit poll predicts that Labor will have captured four hundred and ten seats, adding two hundred and nine.
What is Starmer's vision for the UK? Is it going to be a big shift?
Big question? You know, the manifest might've had one.
Hundred and pretty one pages, but it wasn't a particularly deta out in many things. There are clear sign for its, things like adding the equal of JST to private school fees to find more teachers, big planning reform kind of like what prospression. This is actually to kind of unlocked housing and other investment in the UK. But it is not a radical shift vision. You know that they've stuck to the kind of Tory fiscal being below on on
overall spending things like that. It's definitely a Labor color of that, you know, I think it's pretty easy to expect that I'll be generally more spending on how generally more spending in education, perhaps listing on defense. But they're all overall not be a kind of seismic sure that if I was a UK ally or if I was a UK business person right now, I would not be worrying about some gigantic shift to the left.
The elephant in the room, I guess Reform UK looks set to get to parliament. Is there any concern on the ground about them?
So he's Reform UK are having so far an incredible night.
When we were talking right now, the actual first result just came in and Reform came thickened and a Labor health seat. So Labor retained a labor seat, but they actually lost some.
Polt to reform. So the Reform, who are usually.
Seen as basically ruining the election for Tories, are also
eating into Labor vote warring on the ground. Look, it's all mostly contained within the Conservative Party, who's had a two caps one tap of the Conservative Party says a lot of Reformer basically winning over our voters because they're saying what we should be saying, we should combine with them, which has some kind of reproachable them where we come together, and maybe even Nigel Farrage the character of charismatic leader of reform becomes a Tory and Pete again the Utorian
pe a long time ago. And then there's another cap that says, basically, we should reject births that we shouldn't, you know, we should you much closer to the center, and reform will died down eventually.
Is it a bit of an incredible shift. I know that Nigel Farrage didn't he announce that he was running like three weeks ago.
Or something, just just when when Russie announced in the reign and with rets of he remember the election date. Kind of, he had a very dead week with the one good thing that happened to him was that Niger Bryan said, well, oh look I'm not going to get into this election because I'm too busy kind of being involved helping Donald Trump when in the US.
But then kind of about a.
Week later he actually he suddenly kind of came back.
To my mind, I'm going to run.
Yet I have decided I've changed my mind, so I am I'm going to stand in this election. Perhaps more important than that, I've made a far bigger decision than that. But I'm coming back as leader of Reform UK, but not just for this election campaign. I'm coming back for the next five years.
As a pretty incredible result for reform coming from nothing, coming from from zero seats. But I guess it also speaks taps less to reformers sheets and also more so more conservative streams. If you if you know, it's much harder to find that space on the right when the.
Other right wing party is very strong.
But the Tories were so weak but so week before reform came in, and there's so week now that reform coming even more week that it opens up in space much more Realistically.
We constantly talk about under investment in key infrastructure and services here in New Zealand and how expensive it is to turn that ship around. Is labor over there planning to try and reverse some of those austerity measures.
To be fair, Austereo is kind of kind of Finnish.
In twenty nineteen when Boris Johnson won, so the like the worst of the kind of stopping investing in Britain UK stuff was more post GFC and kind of tweeting.
In the twenty fifteen term.
There is you know, there is there is government money flowing into various places. Labour definitely will want to spend more, but not.
In the immediate term. Right now they're very focused on, I guess, seeming fiscally responsible.
Uh.
And the the investment that.
The UK needs is you know, in New Zealand you think about think about a lot of them and roads and that's definitely a big thing here. It's definitely you know, LA they have a huge fun to potholes. I think was based on my biking around London. I think potholes are actually worse in the UK than in New Zealand.
But it's also in the UK often on on on kind of mega projects, the kind of mega projects that I guess most of the governments are largely ditched here, things like high Speed Term which is a huge rail project between London and originally Manchester Birmingham, which was you.
Know, I can't pick up the exact noumer now, but it's kind of.
In the hundreds of billions of cost and I don't see labor immediately following a lot of money into there, just because well, the UK's destination is worse in New Zealand's uh. And they have very much promised to not kind of rock the boat in that area.
I suppose everyone here, especially in New Zealand and in your field this as well, that we all know someone who is living in London or is going to live in London planning to move over there as their big oe, right. Is it a good time for KIWI expats to move there? Do you think what does Starma's Britain look like to us Kiwi's look?
I do that.
I'm in the middle of my oay, so obviously I'm somewhat pro the moves. I did it before Salmon one or was even surely favored to win. I I think as the reasons through open through road to the UK and not going to najorly change by Starmer at least maybe you were someone who wanted to work in a government job which only going to be high a public center employment. Other than that, I'd say the reasons to move to the UK, uh, you know, there's so many things to do, with so many europe to visit.
That's not going to change. If Sarma does.
What he wants to do and really raise his wages, that will be a big change there. So you know money will be in the UK. But for now, I fact that that could the immediate future. Your region to move in the UK is about as good now as it was to EXCO.
And finally, drawing on your experience as a political editor here in New Zealand and then now working over there during this election, what kind of comparisons have surprised you between what's happening there and what had happened here last year.
I mean, there's a lot of similarities in that.
I think a big part of both labors last twenty three and the the Tory lost and twenty four here is around things kind of outside of the government's control or a little bit of the government's control, around things like inflation and just wait right, you know what which is going really really high.
That stuff just kills governments, you.
Know, And it's the perception of how you deal with that problem that is really crucial.
And both labor avatories, especially Victoria has.
Really failed to look like they had to handle on it and look like they are making it better. They failed on kind of data competence more of an ideology in terms of difference.
Is the really huge thing that the method that Forterier is the electoral system. So obviously it's.
First past the post here in Ford of MP Whichry have a New Zealand is that that's them where if you lose a little bit, you can lose.
Really really badly.
So later I know the overall boat year old have at the end of the night, but it's probably going to be somewhere around late thirty percent. They are going to have probably seventy percent of the seats based on that. Vatories are not going to have anywhere near that. And
when you lose it can get really really bad. And that's that's the really really difference here that the third parties here, instead of kind of taking a bit of their vote but still being kind of a partner, are kind of really big competitors.
Thanks for joining us, Henry. That's it for this episode of The Front Page. You can read more about today's stories and extensive news coverage at enzid Herald dot co dot nz. The Front Page is produced by Ethan Sells and sound engineer Patty Fox. I'm Chelsea Daniels. Subscribe to The Front Page on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts, and tune in on Monday for another look behind the headlines.