Labour suffered significant losses in England's local elections as Reform UK made substantial gains, highlighting the electoral challenges facing Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Early results overnight painted a bleak picture, with Labour losing councillors in its traditional northern heartlands.
Reform UK's Historic Gains
Reform UK took control of its first council at around 6am, gaining overall control of Newcastle-under-Lyme from Labour. Party leader Nigel Farage described the early results as a 'historic change in British politics' and said his party was 'scoring stunning percentages in traditional old Labour areas'.
Reform were the runaway winners in north-east England, winning every single one of the 12 seats up for grabs in Hartlepool. This means Labour, which had a slim majority and was defending six seats, is likely to become the opposition. However, because only a third of the council was being elected, Reform will not have an outright majority and will need to make deals with independents to take control.
Labour's Bleak Picture
Keir Starmer's party went into Thursday's local elections expected to lose up to 1,850 councillors, with senior figures describing the contest as 'tough'. Initial results confirmed these fears, with Labour losing councillors in Chorley, Wigan, Redditch, and Tamworth. In Wigan, represented in parliament by Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, Labour lost 20 seats and Reform gained 23, though the authority remains Labour-controlled.
Labour councillors and supporters were noticeably despondent at the count in Hartlepool. The town's Labour MP Jonathan Brash watched his wife, Pamela Hargreaves, the leader of Hartlepool council, lose her seat. He told the Guardian he was angry and repeated his call for Starmer to go, saying: 'It has been a terrible night for the Labour party... we need change at the top of the Labour party.'
Political Reactions
John McDonnell, the former shadow chancellor under Jeremy Corbyn, said a leadership change must be 'on the agenda' if the results overall prove 'the nightmare as we are worried it will be'. He added: 'If there is to be a leadership change, it has to be an orderly transition, not a coup.'
Political scientist Prof Sir John Curtice told the BBC that while Reform was clearly winning the most votes in early counts, it had 'probably not' reached 30% of the vote, an indication of the fracturing of British politics. He said Labour may lose fewer than 1,500 seats, which some had suggested was the tipping point for attempts to unseat Starmer.
Curtice noted that Reform is being trailed by four parties all between 15% and 20%, making it difficult to disentangle them. He added that the Greens were struggling to convert votes into seats because they were getting 'far too many creditable second and third places'.
Other Party Performances
The Green deputy leader, Rachel Millward, told the BBC her party was optimistic about taking control of Hackney council in east London and said: 'We will make some exciting breakthroughs... this will be seen as a step change moment for us as a party.' However, she suggested that due to the electoral system, the number of seats gained would not match the Green share of the vote across the country.
The Liberal Democrat deputy leader, Daisy Cooper, hailed the party's 'stonking results' in local elections so far, pointing to the party taking control of councils in Stockport and Portsmouth. She said: 'The Liberal Democrats are on a record-breaking winning streak. We are heading for our eighth set of local election gains in a row and are on track to beat Labour and the Conservatives once again.'
Turnout and Key Results
The turnout was 31.5%, slightly higher than the 28% of the last local elections in 2024. In Halton, 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. In some wards, Reform won with more than 50% of the vote in an area where last year it won the Runcorn and Helsby byelection by just six votes.
Elsewhere, Redditch and Tamworth changed from Labour to no overall control, while the Liberal Democrats took control of Stockport. In Oxford city council, Labour lost two seats to the Greens but was expected to continue to be the biggest party and maintain its minority administration after winning in 10 wards. The Greens gained three seats overall after winning nine wards.
