The local elections – now less than a fortnight away – are shaping up to be the most vitriolic in decades. Labour is on the ropes after leading Britain to economic calamity in less than two years: inflation now stands at 3.3%, with families stung at every turn.

The Greens – for years a wacky fringe movement – is now a serious eco-populist party and Britain’s third-largest party, with 200,000 members. And the right? The Tories are neck and neck with Labour, but Reform UK, under Nigel Farage, looks set to clean up on May 7. And things are getting nasty. Very nasty.

With their failings so painfully exposed, mud-slinging is all Labour has left.

Hate, division, and ideology are the battlegrounds of British politics and the war of words will only get more vicious in the three years to the next General Election.

A decade on from the Brexit referendum, migration remains the defining issue of UK politics. It’s why Labour will be pulverised at the polls.

Mr Farage has made no secret of his desire to dispose of Labour’s big beasts and, make no mistake, they are rattled.

So much so, the party was ordered to can a US-style hit job advert crammed with controversial quotes from Reform politicians.

The banned broadcast – now being pumped out online – could not be aired because it was considered too offensive.

Instead, Labour has given it an airing on social media, asking audiences to decide for themselves. They imply Reform – the party set to wipe Labour from the political map in a fortnight and in years to come – is nasty, racist, unwelcoming, and thrives on division and hate.

Labour said: “Our uncensored party election broadcast exposes comments made by Reform politicians that are too offensive to be aired on TV. We must reveal the true extent of the appalling views Nigel Farage and the people behind him really hold. It’s down to us to make sure voters see it to show why we need to beat Reform.”

Will voters be bothered? Probably not. Too much despair has happened on Labour’s watch for that.

And the depths to which Labour has now plummeted show the pickle they are in. They have been exposed as economically illiterate, making life worse for millions rather than delivering on their promise of change.

Less than two years ago, Sir Keir Starmer said the “sunlight of hope” was shining on Britain again after Labour won a landslide election victory. Instead, his tenure has seen a dark cloud hang over the country.

The crisis is so bad that local Labour councillors are refusing to mention Starmer’s name on the doorstep.

The party’s attack video features a lone actress sitting in a pub downing a pint, reciting utterances made by Reform candidates, councillors and MPs, in a send-up of father-of-four Mr Farage.

As things stand, with the vote split on both the left and the right, it is conceivable Britain could find itself in a worse position in three years’ time.

Can you imagine a Labour-Green-Lib Dem coalition? Or one in which any one of the Tories, Reform, Restore Britain, and Advance UK unite?

The 1983 Bermondsey by-election, in which Labour’s candidate Peter Thatcher lost to Liberal Simon Hughes, is widely regarded as one of the dirtiest and most violent elections in history. Until now.

Holier than thou Labour minister Chris Bryant, a long-time critic of Mr Farage and the parties he has led, said he was “sceptical that any party political broadcast could shock me”.

He said: “I’ve seen it all before and so on. But I’m still spooked by this. In the end, it’s all about the character of Reform, their leading members and the kind of things they not only believe but say.”

Strap in because things are about to get particularly nasty.

Speaking in 2020, after delivering the seismic Brexit result, Mr Farage said: “We were almost lone voices in the wind. This is a liberation, make no mistake about it. I always tell my kids that when I am dead, I am going to be really popular.”

Words and cheap left-wing election propaganda won’t derail Mr Farage and the unstoppable march of Reform UK. It’s Starmer who is the dead man walking.