Rishi Sunak and wife Akshata Murty vote against ‘higher taxes’ in UK polls

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak urged voters to choose the Conservative party as polls opened across the country for the general election. Sharing a photo with his wife, Akshata Murty, at a voting booth, the UK Prime Minister urged voters to stop Labor’s “supermajority”.

“The polls are open. Vote Conservative to stop the Labor Party from gaining an absolute majority, which would mean higher taxes for a generation,” he said in a post on X. The photo showed the couple holding hands and walking to a booth of voting.

The polls are open.

Vote Conservative to stop Labor from an absolute majority, which would mean higher taxes for a generation. pic.twitter.com/NPH7lSeDFc

-Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) July 4, 2024

The 44-year-old prime minister of Indian origin is facing voters’ anguish over the current Conservative Party, which has been in power for more than 14 years under the command of five prime ministers.

Over the course of the six-week campaign that followed Sunak’s sudden election appeal, the UK prime minister trailed 61-year-old Keir Starmer, who leads the Labor Party.

“Stop the Labor Party’s absolute majority” is the central message that Sunak was trying to convey when ending his campaign, even when the majority of incumbent Conservatives almost conceded defeat in the general election.

“Labor will raise your taxes. Again and again and again,” he posted on social media as the overarching message to end the campaign.

Around 40,000 polling stations opened across the country at 7am local time, when around 46 million registered voters began showing up to mark a cross next to their chosen candidate on a paper ballot.

Once the votes have been cast and the booths officially close at 10pm local time, the focus shifts to the final exit poll immediately to follow, which gives a fair picture of what can be expected across the UK . Counting begins immediately across the country, with the first results expected just before midnight local time.