This is an article from the 2026 Civitas Examiner (Volume 3, No. 2) and was written by one of our students, Sarp. The opinions expressed herein do not reflect those of Civitas other than respect for the value of open dialogue. To read more Civitas Examiner stories or to submit your own, click here.
Keir Starmer, the prime minister of the United Kingdom, announced his resignation on June 22, 2026. With the opinions regarding Starmer from the general public and the party falling, this decision was not unexpected for most. “Change” was the slogan and motto for Starmer’s campaign. After Labour’s landslide victory on July 5, 2024, many people expected for Starmer and his party to follow up on their entire campaign slogan of that word. In the current year of 2026, however, it is obvious that the state of affairs for Labour is not looking bright or promising. This brings us to Andy Burnham. According to a YouGov poll, the most popular politician in the U.K. with 35 percent is Burnham. He first entered politics in the late 2000s serving as leadership roles in ministries of the government. In 2017, he went on to chase what would get him the reputation he has today, the mayor of Greater Manchester. Just recently, Burnham resigned and ran to be a member of Parliament. By U.K. law, the prime minister must be a sitting member of Parliament. After Burnham won his election in Makersfield, his constituency, it had become obvious that he was the favorite to win and enter the office.
While Labour is in an internal dispute, there have been other parties and individuals that are catching attention in the spotlight of the U.K.’s politics. Shifting over to the right of the political compass, there has been two new parties gaining recognition. Reform UK is a right-wing populist party, led by Nigel Farage. The party has policies which reflect its right-wing ideas and support. Some of Reform UK’s policies for the general election in 2024 consisted of reducing legal immigration, cutting taxes, introducing “patriotic curriculum” in schools, leaving the European Convention on Human Rights, and many other ideas. Going even further to the right than Reform, we arrive at Restore Britain. Political scientists describe it as right-wing and ethno-nationalist. It is also considered to be radical right along with studies classifying it as far-right. The more extreme policies of Reform and Restore do not have a major influence on the current parliament. Reform only has eight seats and Restore only has one seat. While the presence of these two parties can be overwhelming when combined with the Conservative Party of the UK which is the main opposition party, they do not have a large amount of voice as mentioned above. Going back to the YouGov poll that placed Burnham as the most popular, the same poll placed Farage as the third most popular politician. As the scales shift between different ideologies, the current Parliament has a majority held by Labour.
On a different front, we take a look at the Green Party. As a party sitting on the left of Labour, they also have gained much support and rose in popularity. Rather than attracting voters on the right, Greens has been becoming a choice for many of those who had voted for Labour previously. Zack Polanski, leader of the Green Party and a current member of Parliament, has been rising in popularity polls as Labour loses support. Greens have been attracting people as they pursue more left-wing policies rather than the right-wing policies that other parties have been chasing. While talking about the politics of the United Kingdom, it is important to keep in mind that before Labour, the Tories, a colloquial name for the Conservative Party, held power for the past 14 years before that. As a nation held so long by conservative rule, figures such as Starmer and Polanski seemed refreshing. The attraction for more left-wing policies increased even further after Brexit, the U.K. leaving the European Union, which was a process backed by conservative figures such as Farage. The Green Party platformed on providing affordable housing, transitioning to clean renewable energy, taxing the wealthy, expansion of public services, and the opposite of most policies supported by the conservative parties.
As Labour moves into officially having Burnham as the prime minister and leader, it is difficult to tell the fate of politics in the U.K. until then. The competency of Labour governing is still a question for a lot of people as Starmer’s mistakes and promises-not-kept. With Burnham being the seventh prime minister in the past decade, this also raises questions regarding parties such as Reform UK or Green Party coming in to contest the Parliament even further next election. As Starmer acts as the caretaker of the government, we will see how it will unfold.
