Sir Keir Starmer has insisted he will not step down as Prime Minister despite a devastating electoral defeat for Labour in its traditional heartlands, as Nigel Farage's Reform UK achieved stunning gains across the country.
The Prime Minister acknowledged that the results were "tough" and "very tough," with Labour losing hundreds of council seats in England and suffering a humiliating defeat in Wales, where First Minister Baroness Eluned Morgan failed to secure a seat in the newly expanded Senedd. Plaid Cymru and Reform both made significant inroads into Labour's Welsh stronghold.
In Scotland, the SNP appeared poised to remain the largest party after 19 years in power, while the Green Party also benefited from Labour's decline. Zack Polanski declared that the era of two-party politics "is not just dying, it is dead and it is buried."
Speaking after the results, Sir Keir acknowledged that his government had made "unnecessary mistakes" but stressed: "I'm not going to walk away and plunge the country into chaos." He added: "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."
Reform UK secured a landmark victory by taking control of Sunderland City Council, which includes the Westminster constituency of Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson. The party also became the second largest in Tameside, where Labour lost its majority after 47 years of uninterrupted control—an area that includes the constituency of former deputy leader Angela Rayner.
Other notable Reform successes included winning Havering, its first London borough, and taking Essex County Council—the local authority of Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch—as well as Suffolk from the Conservatives.
Nigel Farage hailed the results as "a big, big day, not just for our party, but for a complete reshaping of British politics in every way."
In her concession speech, Baroness Morgan called on Sir Keir's government to change course, stating: "Results across the whole of the UK have demonstrated deep frustration with the Labour Party. We need to go back to being the party of the working class. We need the Labour Government nationally to change course."
