Labour and Conservatives lose council seats as Reform, Greens and Lib Dems gain
Reform have made huge gains so far
Last updated 22 hours ago
Labour is under pressure following miserable local election results overnight as Nigel Farage claimed Reform UK is on course to win the next general election.
A huge number of results have not been counted yet, but early results saw Labour haemorrhage hundreds of councillors and eight local authorities across England while Reform, the Greens and Liberal Democrats all made gains.
Labour faces further heavy losses as vote counting continues throughout Friday in both English local elections and contests for the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Senedd.
In Wales, Labour is expected to lose the national vote for the first time in more than a century while the SNP appears likely to remain the largest party in Scotland after 19 years in power.
Sir Keir Starmer has already faced speculation about his leadership, with the Times reporting Energy Secretary Ed Miliband had urged the Prime Minister to set out a timetable for his departure.
But Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy urged his party not to play “pass the parcel” with the leadership in response to the election results.
Labour sources pointed to poor local election results under previous prime ministers, including Sir Tony Blair who lost 1,100 councillors in 1999 but went on to win re-election in a landslide in 2001.
Sir Keir vows to stay on as PM
Sir Keir Starmer insisted he would carry on as Prime Minister despite Labour suffering those local election losses.
He acknowledged it had been a “tough” night for Labour but said that “days like this don’t weaken my resolve to deliver the change that I promised”.
Sir Keir, speaking at Kingsdown Methodist Church in Ealing, west London, on Friday morning, said: “The results are tough, they are very tough, and there’s no sugarcoating it.
“We have lost brilliant Labour representatives across the country, these are people who put so much into their communities, so much into our party.
“And that hurts, and it should hurt, and I take responsibility.”
Farage says Reform are on course for a general election win
Meanwhile, Mr Farage hailed early results from Thursday’s local election as a sign his party was on course for victory at a general election that is still up to three years away.
A jubilant Mr Farage heralded a “historic change in British politics,” telling reporters “there is no more left-right” as his outfit was “scoring stunning percentages in traditional old Labour areas”.
The Reform leader compared the substantial gains to clearing Becher’s Brook, a famously difficult jump in the Grand National.
“If we cleared Becher’s Brook and landed well, we go on to win the Grand National.
“What is very clear to me is that our voters will stick with us now all the way through.”
With 38 of the 136 councils declaring their full results in the early hours of Friday, Reform’s gains exceeded 230 seats while Labour had lost more than 170.