Britain's main opposition Labour party plans to announce a new leader on Saturday, which its 500,000 members hope will mark the end of one of the bleakest periods in its 120-year history, Reuters reported. "Britain has a functioning opposition from today. Never has it needed one more, without parliament amid a deepening national crisis," Andrew Adonis, a Labour member of the Lords, parliament's unelected upper house, tweeted ahead of the announcement. Keir Starmer, the overwhelming favourite to succeed outgoing left-wing Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, had urged the divided party to remain "radical" despite its disastrous slump in support in a snap election in December. Corbyn apologized and agreed to step down after Labour lost 59 seats in the election, handing Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservatives a big parliamentary majority. Starmer, 57, said the party should stick to its values despite opinion polls suggesting Corbyn's leadership and Labor's economic and Brexit policies were unpopular with voters.
