John Swinney urges Starmer to show Scotland ‘greater respect’ after SNP victory

John Swinney, the Scottish National party leader, has challenged Keir Starmer to show “greater respect” to the Scottish government after winning the Holyrood elections by a comfortable margin.The Scottish National party secured a record fifth term in office on Friday after securing 58 of Holyrood’s 129 seats.In a dramatic conclusion to the day’s counting, Labour and Reform UK were left tied on 17 seats each after Highlands council finally finished its regional list count at 1.10am on Saturday, 16 hours after counting began.With Labour enduring its worst result since devolution in 1999, this puts the Scottish parliament in the unprecedented position of having two parties in joint second place, adding to Labour’s humiliation

Labour suffers historic defeat in Wales as Reform surges in English council elections and Greens make gains – as it happened

Plaid Cymru have won 43 seats in Wales’s Senedd election with all constituencies declared, Bethan McKernan reports, putting the Welsh nationalists in a comfortable position to form a minority government and ending more than 100 years of Labour hegemony.Polls consistently suggested Plaid Cymru and Reform UK were neck and neck in the race to become the biggest party under Wales’s new more proportional voting system.As in last year’s closely watched Caerphilly Senedd byelection, however, the contest was not as close as predicted. Reform has come in second, with 34 seats – up from 1% of the vote share in 2021’s election.Labour, for so long Wales’s political behemoth, has limped into third place with just nine seats in a 96 seat parliament

Nigel Farage hails ‘historic shift in politics’ after Reform UK election gains

Nigel Farage hailed sweeping election wins for Reform UK as a “historic shift in British politics” on a day when the populist party made gains at the expense of Labour and the Conservatives.Reform made advances in heartland areas of both parties, clocking up substantial early results in the English local elections by taking control of Essex county council, Havering – its first London local authority – and Sunderland city council.However, the results were not without setbacks, for example in Harlow, a past general election bellwether, while one prominent pollster suggested the party may have peaked and that Farage would have reason to be “privately worried”.Nevertheless, Reform established beachheads for the next general election in areas including Essex, home to the seats of prominent Tory MPs including Kemi Badenoch and James Cleverly, where Farage’s party went from having a single representative to taking control of the council.“It’s a big, big day, not just for our party but for a complete reshaping of British politics in every way,” Farage said as he appeared on Friday outside Havering town hall, in a borough on the eastern border of Greater London where many voters identify more closely with neighbouring Essex

Keir Starmer under pressure to agree exit plan after election mauling

Keir Starmer is under pressure to set out a timeline for his departure after a crushing defeat in elections across Britain prompted senior Labour MPs to call for him to step down within a year.In a disastrous set of results, Labour had lost control of more than 25 councils and more than 1,000 council seats in England by Friday night, many to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, which made large gains across the Midlands and the north as well as taking seats from the Tories in the south.After more than a century of domination, Labour has faced near-wipeout in Wales, where the party’s first minister, Eluned Morgan, lost her seat. Labour could slump to third place in Scotland behind the SNP and Reform. In London, a Green surge meant Labour lost control of councils it had dominated, including Hackney and Waltham Forest

Labour loses control of Birmingham city council after 14 years of leadership

The Labour party’s 14-year leadership in Birmingham has come to an end after Reform, Greens and pro-Gaza independents made significant gains in the UK’s second-largest city.No party has yet won an overall majority at Birmingham city council, one of Europe’s largest local authorities, with the results reflecting wider political fragmentation across England.Labour lost hundreds of council seats in England, many to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, which made big gains across the Midlands and the north as well as taking seats from the Tories in the south.Labour was expected to take significant losses in the all-out elections in Birmingham, where 101 seats were up for grabs. The council has been plagued by a series of problems in recent years, from the declaration of bankruptcy in 2023, subsequent cuts to local services and the ongoing bin strike – images of rubbish piled on the city’s streets have made headlines across the world

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