Keir Starmer is under mounting pressure to agree a departure timeline after Labour suffered a catastrophic defeat in local elections across Britain, losing control of more than 25 English councils and over 1,000 council seats. Many of the losses were to Reform UK, which made substantial gains in the Midlands, the north, and southern seats previously held by the Conservatives.
The scale of the defeat was underscored by Labour's near-wipeout in Wales, where First Minister Eluned Morgan lost her seat, and the party's projected slump to third place in Scotland behind the SNP and Reform. In London, a Green surge cost Labour control of councils it had long dominated, including Hackney and Waltham Forest. By Friday evening, at least ten additional Labour MPs had called on the prime minister to set out a timetable for leaving Downing Street.
Louise Haigh, a former cabinet minister and co-chair of the influential Tribune group, was the first senior figure to break cover. She warned that unless the government delivers significant and urgent change, Starmer cannot lead the party into another election. One senior backbencher said colleagues wanted a dignified exit, suggesting Starmer should hold his final conference this autumn and oversee a leadership contest immediately after, insisting he could not lead the party into next year's local elections. Starmer, however, insisted he would not walk away, arguing that doing so would plunge the party into chaos, while acknowledging voters were frustrated with the slow pace of change.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage described the results as a truly historic shift in British politics, after his party won hundreds of seats and control of more councils, including Essex, where Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has her constituency and which the Tories had held for 25 years. In Wales, Plaid Cymru became the largest party, with Reform in second, as Labour conceded it was on course to lose control of the Senedd for the first time since devolution. Morgan called on Labour to return to being the party of the working class.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar conceded defeat, saying his party had failed to counter national dissatisfaction with Starmer, while SNP leader John Swinney declared victory in the Holyrood elections, though he is expected to fall short of an outright majority. The Greens celebrated winning their first two directly elected mayors in Hackney and Lewisham, as well as three councils – Norwich, Hastings, and Waltham Forest – with leader Zack Polanski declaring Britain's two-party politics dead and buried. The Conservatives, despite losing hundreds of seats to Reform and the Liberal Democrats across the south, won back control of Westminster council, with Badenoch claiming the party was coming back.
Labour also appeared to be struggling in its London stronghold, unexpectedly losing control of Brent, with insiders watching results in Lambeth, Lewisham, and Haringey. However, the party's vote held up in Wes Streeting's Redbridge, countering suggestions he might lose his Ilford North seat. Allies of potential leadership rivals Angela Rayner and Andy Burnham said they would keep their counsel for now. Starmer is expected to deliver a major speech next week setting out a more optimistic vision, while the King's Speech on Wednesday will include policy announcements, though no cabinet reshuffle is anticipated.
