Britain | Prospective MPs

Generation K: Keir Starmer’s cohort of Labour candidates

Who are the people who might reshape British politics for years to come?

Collage of Keir Starmer in the House of Commons with rows of MPs with his head behind him.
Illustration: Ellie Foreman-Peck

IMAGINE the seats up for grabs in the general election on July 4th are sorted in order, from ones that Labour are most likely to gain from other parties to those they are least likely to. As of May 29th The Economist’s prediction model shows that High Peak in Derbyshire would be most likely to fall to Labour if an election were held tomorrow; Jon Pearce, an employment lawyer who once worked shifts in McDonald’s, has a 99.96% chance of becoming its MP. If the party wins 389 seats—the central scenario in our prediction, giving Sir Keir Starmer a majority of 128—the last seat to turn red would be Amber Valley, also in Derbyshire, where Linsey Farnsworth, a former public prosecutor, is the candidate.

Explore more

This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Generation K”

From the June 1st 2024 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition

Discover more

British MPs vote in favour of assisted dying

A monumental social reform is closer to being realised

This illustration depicts Keith Starmer and Rachel Reeves set against a background of UK, US, and Chinese flag elements.

The slow death of a Labour buzzword

And what that says about Britain’s place in the world



Britain’s Supreme Court considers what a woman is

At last. Britons had been wondering what those 34m people who are not men might be

Can potholes fuel populism?

A new paper looks at one explanation for the rise of Reform UK

Are British voters as clueless as Labour’s intelligentsia thinks? 

How the idea of false consciousness conquered the governing party