Conservative Party (UK) the UK would have higher prices and higher taxes under a Labour government, was seen to have been crucial in his election win (in which he became the first—and as of 2015, only—Prime Minister to attract 14,000,000 votes in a general election), as was a high-profile campaign by "The Sun" newspaper against Labour leader Neil Kinnock, who resigned in the aftermath of the election to be succeeded by John Smith. The Conservative Party also touched upon the issue of immigration, claiming that under Labour, immigration would rise hugely. The UK economy was deep in recession by this stage and remained
Labour Party leadership of Jeremy Corbyn November 2017, Corbyn whipped Labour MPs to vote with the Tories against an amendment by Labour MP Ian Murray that would have effectively kept the UK in the customs union. Corbyn said he welcomed Prime Minister Theresa May's proposal to seek an early general election in 2017. He said his party should support the government's move in the parliamentary vote. Earlier in the year, Corbyn had become the first opposition party leader since Michael Foot in 1982 to lose a by-election to an incumbent government, and at the time May called the snap election, Labour trailed the Conservative Party by