Exit poll predicts large majority for Labour in UK elections

Live updates: Follow the latest news on the UK general election

Exit polls predicted that Keir Starmer will lead the British Labour Party to victory in Thursday's general election after a disastrous Conservative campaign sent the party out of power after 14 years.

The survey for TV broadcasters released seconds after the polls close showed the party on 410 seats and the Conservatives on 131.

Labour returned to the political heights last scaled by Tony Blair in 1997 when the party sought to transform Britain into a progressive society at home and a global force for reformist principles.

The motto of the Starmer campaign emulated the Blair spirit, calling on the electorate to "vote for change".

Can the UK economy grow by 2.5 per cent under a Labour government?

Cheers rang out at election watch gatherings around the country.

The Conservatives are now looking at a period of consolidation after winning fewer seats than their previous low of 156 in 1906.

With the leaders' speeches interspersing the live cutaways to failing and winning candidates, the night saw more than 300 new MPs declared.

With the exit poll prediction clear cut, Rishi Sunak was steeled to head to Buckingham Palace on Friday morning.

King Charles III, who has been ailing with cancer, has the duty of naming the new leader, while a stand for a speech at the front door of No 10 Downing Street is installed and removal vans are glimpsed at the back of the street.

With his constituency in north London, Mr Starmer is expected to be joined at home by close aides before cars arrive to take him to the palace to formally “kiss hands” with the king in the ritualised appointment ceremony.

A triumphant arrival at Downing Street and a first speech outside No 10’s famous black door then gives way to security briefings, including letters to the commanders of the nuclear submarines, followed by an intense process of appointing a new cabinet.

Our legal columnist

Name: Yousef Al Bahar

Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994

Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers

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UPI facts

More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions

Some of Darwish's last words

"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008

His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.

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Iran has sent five planeloads of food to Qatar, which is suffering shortages amid a regional blockade.

A number of nations, including Iran's major rival Saudi Arabia, last week cut ties with Qatar, accusing it of funding terrorism, charges it denies.

The land border with Saudi Arabia, through which 40% of Qatar's food comes, has been closed.

Meanwhile, mediators Kuwait said that Qatar was ready to listen to the "qualms" of its neighbours.

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Other ways to buy used products in the UAE

UAE insurance firm Al Wathba National Insurance Company (AWNIC) last year launched an e-commerce website with a facility enabling users to buy car wrecks.

Bidders and potential buyers register on the online salvage car auction portal to view vehicles, review condition reports, or arrange physical surveys, and then start bidding for motors they plan to restore or harvest for parts.

Physical salvage car auctions are a common method for insurers around the world to move on heavily damaged vehicles, but AWNIC is one of the few UAE insurers to offer such services online.

For cars and less sizeable items such as bicycles and furniture, Dubizzle is arguably the best-known marketplace for pre-loved.

Founded in 2005, in recent years it has been joined by a plethora of Facebook community pages for shifting used goods, including Abu Dhabi Marketplace, Flea Market UAE and Arabian Ranches Souq Market while sites such as The Luxury Closet and Riot deal largely in second-hand fashion.

At the high-end of the pre-used spectrum, resellers such as Timepiece360.ae, WatchBox Middle East and Watches Market Dubai deal in authenticated second-hand luxury timepieces from brands such as Rolex, Hublot and Tag Heuer, with a warranty.