Cracks showing for Labour close to backyards of Starmer’s top team

Keir Starmer hates to lose. Unsurprisingly, he refused to walk away and end his premiership as Labour’s local election losses began to trickle in on Friday morning. Upon entering Downing Street in July 2024 after leading Labour to a historic general election victory, Starmer promised the public that his government would “fight every day until you believe again”.Now, Starmer is faced with the uncomfortable truth that the frustrated yet united coalition that brought him into No 10 hoping for change is completely fractured and its discontent cannot be dismissed as early midterm blues.The cracks are showing very close to the political backyards of Starmer and his top team

Plaid Cymru wins Welsh Senedd elections, ending 100 years of Labour control

Plaid Cymru has won the Welsh Senedd elections, ending 100 years of Labour dominance in Wales and blocking the momentum of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.The leader of the centre-left Welsh nationalist party, Rhun ap Iorwerth, said he stood ready to become first minister and form the next Welsh government, taking over from Welsh Labour, who have governed in Wales since devolution began in 1999.The Plaid win makes a Welsh independence referendum a future possibility, and means all three of the UK’s Celtic nations will now be controlled by separatist parties.Reform UK came second, pushing Labour into a distant third place. Plaid won 43 seats, Reform 34, Labour nine, the Conservatives seven, Greens two and Liberal Democrats one

Reform wins across northern England overturn decades of Labour control

Nigel Farage chose Sunderland for the launch of Reform UK’s local election campaign because, he said, it was where he had first sensed the “big political earthquake” underfoot.A decade ago next month, the city was the first to declare its vote in the Brexit referendum – a thumping 61% opting to leave the EU – and the aftershocks are still being felt across Labour’s heartlands.From the Lancashire coast to Roker pier, Labour’s “red wall” suffered an astonishing collapse on Friday as hundreds of council seats fell to Reform UK, overturning half a century of political control in Sunderland, Gateshead and South Tyneside. In what will be one of the keenest-felt defeats, Labour lost control in Barnsley for the first time in the council’s 52-year history.The results were ominous for several of the party’s big beasts

Badenoch claims Tories ‘coming back’ despite widespread losses in local elections

Kemi Badenoch has claimed that the Conservatives are “coming back” after winning back Westminster council from Labour in London, despite her party suffering significant losses throughout England in Thursday’s elections.The party also saw off a threat from Reform UK in Bexley. But the Tories suffered a series of losses in Essex, where Badenoch herself is an MP, losing 41 seats while Reform gained 52. They held on to Harlow, securing all 11 district council seats available.In Havering, where the Conservatives had 14 councillors before the election, the party was wiped out

Zack Polanski calls two-party politics dead after mayoral and council wins

Zack Polanski has declared Britain’s two-party politics “dead and buried” as his Green party won its first two mayoral elections and gained councillors across England, winning four councils outright.As Labour losses piled up across the country and the Conservatives endured another disappointing set of results, Polanski sought to present his party as emerging from the results as the most viable option for opponents of Reform.“It is very clear that the new politics is the Green party versus Reform,” he said.Speaking at the Hackney count centre in east London, the scene of the first mayoral success, he added: “I said that the Green party were going to replace Labour. That’s exactly what we did in Gorton and Denton, it’s what we’ve done in Hackney, and we’re seeing that right across the country

Lord Beecham obituary

Jeremy Beecham, who has died aged 81, was an outstanding figure in local government as the Labour leader of Newcastle city council from 1977 to 1994.He built on the work of his immediate predecessors in restoring faith in the integrity of the council following the corruption of the T Dan Smith era, and guided it through the unfamiliar territory of collaboration with the new Tyne and Wear county council.He and his team focused on the basic local government responsibilities of council housing, education and social services – the latter his special interest. Initially these priorities led him to allow council staffing levels to run out of control. As a reporter for the Newcastle Chronicle throughout his leadership, I noted in 1978 that the council was employing more than 18,000 people: in the very different circumstances of 2025, the number of full-time equivalent posts was below 7,000

What a crucial set of election results means for Keir Starmer’s future

As the results rolled in, a trickle of voices from MPs in the governing Labour party calling for Keir Starmer to name an exit date turned into a steady stream.The numbers in England’s crucial local election results on Friday were undoubtedly bad for Labour, as Reform UK made sweeping gains across pro-Brexit heartlands in the Midlands and north, including the historically deep red Sunderland and Hartlepool. These could even be the party’s worst losses for 50 years, with more than 1,000 councillors gone alongside the loss of control of the Welsh parliament – and similar disappointment expected in Scotland.However, the momentum for a decisive challenge to Starmer stopped short of sweeping through the cabinet or provoking resignations – in the way that often happens when a party leader finds their time is up in the British system.Lou Haigh, a former cabinet minister from the social democratic group in the middle of Labour’s ideological spectrum, was the biggest new voice hinting that Starmer should set out a timetable to leave office, urging him to change course before this became necessary

How Labour’s ‘terrible’ night unfolded as Reform surges and Greens and Lib Dems hail wins

The polls had been terrible, the predictions dire and even one of his predecessors as Labour leader, Ed Miliband, had reportedly told Keir Starmer he should set a timetable for his resignation if the results were as bad as they looked.But for the prime minister, as polling stations closed in Wales, Scotland and many parts of England, there would be no consideration of such a course. “To all the Labour members and volunteers who have supported local campaigns across the country: thank you,” he posted on X late on Thursday. “Together we will build a stronger and fairer Britain.”Well, maybe

Lib Dems can counter extremes of Reform and Greens, Davey says

Ed Davey has sought to cast Liberal Democrat wins in England’s local elections as proof his party is best positioned to confront what he described as the “extreme populist change” offered by Reform UK and the Greens.As Labour assessed a disastrous set of results, the Lib Dems could claim they had been able to fend off Reform challenges in areas including Portsmouth, where they made gains to seize the city council, which had been under no overall control.However, while the party’s highly concentrated results demonstrated a clinical efficiency, early results indicated that on average its support was down by three points on 2022 and 2024.It means Davey could face questions about why the party has been unable to make major national gains, on the back of an anti-incumbent mood, relative to those achieved by Reform and the Greens.Nevertheless, the Lib Dems were not without eye-catching results, most notably in Richmond upon Thames where they gained five councillors – all from the Greens – to take all 54 seats