Tell us: do you live in a Reform run council or mayoral authority?

Following the May 2025 English local elections, Reform UK won more than 600 seats and took control of 10 councils, including Kent and County Durham.Reform campaigned on promises to cut waste, lower council tax and change how councils are run. Since taking office, it has said it is delivering savings and a new approach, while critics have questioned some of its claims and accused the party of breaking pledges not to raise council tax. The Reform-led Worcestershire county council is likely to issue England’s largest council tax rise this April.With the party currently leading national polls, one of its highest profile council leaders has admitted that its performance in local government is Reform’s “shop window” for the future as it looks towards the next general election

How the Downing Street machine ensured Starmer survived to fight another day

At about 1.30pm on Monday, Downing Street officials feared the worst.Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, had announced an impromptu press conference at which he was expected to call for Keir Starmer to stand down, and those close to the PM were worried senior ministers would soon follow suit.What followed was three hours of frenetic activity as a group of about 10 ministers and officials at the top of government hit the phones in a desperate – and ultimately successful – attempt to shore up the prime minister’s position.It was Downing Street’s first test without Starmer’s former chief of staff Morgan McSweeney, whose resignation on Sunday arguably precipitated Monday’s chaotic events

‘Keir Starmer doesn’t do anything but U-turns’: the bleak mood in Makerfield

As he rose to his feet in the Commons in September 2024, the incoming Labour MP Josh Simons echoed Keir Starmer’s promise to deliver.“Unless working people like those I am so proud to represent feel change and unless we in this chamber demonstrate humility and honesty and act with integrity and with respect, they have no reason to believe in democracy,” he said.Seventeen months on, Starmer is engulfed in a scandal that threatens to undermine those principles and could yet prove terminal for his premiership, having prompted the resignation of two key No 10 figures.Simons, a Cabinet Office minister, is a staunch ally of the prime minister and his now-departed chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney.A former director of the pro-Starmer thinktank Labour Together, Simons won his seat in Makerfield, Greater Manchester, under the McSweeney-masterminded landslide in 2024

Labour soft left urges Starmer to reshuffle cabinet to end infighting

Labour’s powerful soft left caucus has urged Keir Starmer to reshuffle his cabinet and put an end to factional infighting, with several calling for the return of Angela Rayner, Louise Haigh and Lucy Powell.The Tribune group of more than 100 MPs has long called in private for the departure of Starmer’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, who quit on Sunday.It had been widely expected to call for McSweeney’s resignation in the aftermath of the May elections, as well as demand a wider cabinet reshuffle and a significant reset of economic policy as the price for continued backing of Starmer.In a statement, it said it would be “wrong and counterproductive” to launch a leadership contest though stopped short of giving the prime minister its personal endorsement.The group is led by Haigh as well as the former whip Vicky Foxcroft, the former minister Justin Madders, the select committee chair Sarah Owen, Yuan Yang and Beccy Cooper, said it was now time for Starmer to show he was committed to a new way of working

Starmer tells Labour MPs he is ‘not prepared to walk away’ after call for him to resign – as it happened

Speaking during a meeting of the parliamentary Labour party, Keir Starmer told MPs and peers he is “not prepared to walk away” from his mandate as prime minister.Starmer said:I have won every fight I’ve ever been in.I fought to change the Crown Prosecution Service so it better served victims of violence against women and girls. I fought to change the Labour Party to allow us to win an election again.People told me I couldn’t do it

Keir Starmer says he is ‘not prepared to walk away’ after call for resignation

Keir Starmer has seen off an immediate challenge to his position from Labour’s leader in Scotland, telling his MPs he was “not prepared to walk away” from power and plunge the country into chaos.But the prime minister emerged badly damaged from a tumultuous 24 hours that brought his premiership to the brink, leaving his party united for now but fearful of what the coming days and weeks will bring.Starmer survived a day of high drama after his full cabinet rallied behind him but, despite public displays of support, several warned he was not out of danger, with one adding his leadership was “in the endgame”.As months of despair over the government’s situation came to a head, potential leadership rivals including Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting appeared to be readying for a future contest.The chaos unfurled as Starmer fought to reassert control over his party after accepting the resignation of his closest adviser, Morgan McSweeney, amid anger over the appointment of Peter Mandelson as the ambassador to the US