The results of the local elections so far demonstrate “a very bad night” for the Labour Party, an expert on elections and political polling said on Friday (May 8), Reuters reports.
“The main benefactors of that appear to be Reform UK, who are gaining hundreds of councillors and maybe in the four digits by the end of the end of the day,” said Director of Politics at IPSOS, Keiran Pedley.
Pedley warned, however “politics is very volatile at the moment. It’s a fractured party system,” adding that Reform UK’s strong performance did not automatically translate into long-term power.
Pedley also highlighted gains by the Greens who he said “seem to be breaking records” in terms of their own vote share.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer vowed on Friday to stay in office to “deliver change” after his Labour Party suffered heavy losses in local elections that deepened doubts over his ability to govern.
Just under two years after winning a landslide national election, Starmer saw voters punish his Labour government, dealing it a blow in some of its traditional strongholds in former industrial regions in central and northern England.
Early results underscored the fracturing of Britain’s traditional two-party system, with the once-dominant Labour and Conservative parties losing votes not only to Reform, but to the left-wing Green Party at the other end of the political spectrum, and to nationalists in Scotland and Wales.
