Keir Starmer's Labour suffers heavy early losses as Reform UK surges in local elections

KEIR STARMER’S LABOUR party has lost hundreds of councillors and eight local authorities across England in early local election results, while Reform UK, the Greens and Liberal Democrats all made gains.

The British prime minister faces further heavy losses as vote counting continues throughout today in the local elections, along with 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.

Starmer has already faced speculation about his leadership, with the Times reporting Energy Secretary Ed Miliband had urged him 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 Tony Blair who lost 1,100 councillors in 1999 but went on to win re-election in a landslide in 2001.

When results were in from 37 of the 136 councils in the early hours of this morning, Reform’s gains exceeded 210 seats while Labour lost more than 160, including in its traditional northern heartlands.

Reform leader Nigel Farage has 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”.

Labour went into the local elections expected to lose up to 1,850 councillors, with senior figures describing the contest as “tough”.

Initial results painted a bleak picture for Starmer.

In Halton, in Cheshire, Labour held two of the 17 seats it was defending as Reform UK gained 15 councillors in the first council to complete its count this morning.

In some wards, Reform won with more than 50% of the vote in an area where last year Farage’s party won the Runcorn and Helsby by-election by just six votes.

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Although Labour’s starting position means it retains control of Halton Council, the shift in vote share combined with losses elsewhere in the north west kicked off a difficult night for Starmer.

Those results included losses to Reform in Chorley, in Lancashire, and Wigan, in Greater Manchester.

In Hartlepool, Reform won all 12 seats on offer, pushing the previously Labour-held council into no overall control, while Labour also lost control of Redditch, Tamworth and Exeter.

In Tameside, a council in Angela Rayner’s Greater Manchester constituency, Labour lost its majority to no overall control as Reform took 18 of the 19 seats up for election.

While Labour held onto councils in London including Ealing, Merton and Hammersmith and Fulham, the party lost control of Wandsworth four years on from taking over what had been a long-held Conservative authority.

The Greens are expected to do well, with leader Zack Polanski predicting “record-breaking local elections” for the party.

He said it would “take time for the full scale of the Green successes to become clear,” especially in London boroughs to be counted later today, and called for Starmer to “listen to the people and go”.

Ed Davey’s Liberal Democrats, eyeing an eighth successive year of local gains, celebrated taking Stockport and Portsmouth councils, which were previously under no overall control.

They also hold all 54 council seats in Richmond upon Thames, after gaining five from the Greens in the south west London borough.

But the Lib Dems lost their majority to no overall control in Hull, losing three seats as Reform gained 10.

It could be another bad night for the Conservatives despite an improvement in party leader Kemi Badenoch’s approval rating, with the party expected to lose further ground to Reform, although it managed to hold Harlow in Essex and Broxbourne in Hertfordshire.

Almost 25,000 candidates were fighting to be elected to more than 5,000 seats on 136 councils across England, where six local mayoral contests also took place.

In Scotland, all 129 seats were up for election at Holyrood while voters in Wales were choosing 96 members of the Senedd.

Votes in Wales and Scotland are not due to be counted until later today, but both elections are expected to pile further pressure on Starmer.