In British local elections, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party has so far lost hundreds of seats in a wave driven by the far-right Reform UK.

The Labour has lost 204 seats while Reform has gained 275, according to the latest tally.

The early election results appear to cement Reform as a leading political force. Party leader Nigel Farage has hailed the results as a “truly historic shift in British politics” and said he is headed towards the prime ministership.

While Labour has emerged as the biggest loser, Reform has also taken seats from the Conservative Party — the party lost ‘Red Wall’ seats in Chorley, Lancashire, and Salford, and in Merseyside.

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Despite the string of defeats, Labour appears to have avoided the worst-case scenarios predicted by pollsters, according to the Daily Mail.

Under the worst-case scenario, Labour could have lost more than 1,800 seats, but losses now appear to be around 1,200.

Across England, elections have been held for more than 5,000 seats across 136 local authorities involving around 25,000 candidates. Six mayoral elections were also held. Counting is underway and results have so far been declared for only 42 of the 136 councils in England, according to the Daily Mail.

Elections have also been held for 129 seats in Scotland and 96 seats in Wales. Counting has yet to begin in either Scotland or Wales.

Starmer under all-round pressure as Labour collapses in Reform wave

The results have added to Starmer’s woes,
who was already under immense pressure over the spiralling scandal involving disgraced diplomat Peter Mandelson.

As speculation grows over whether Starmer will remain in office, he has taken responsibility for Labour’s rout in the local elections but has vowed to stay on and deliver the promises he made during the election campaign.

Describing the results as “very tough”, Starmer said in a speech that “when voters send a message like this we must reflect and we must respond”.

“There are difficult conditions. The inheritance was terrible. The international context is very, very difficult. But we need to inject that hope and convince people that things can and will get better. And that’s why in coming days, I’ll set out the further steps that we will take,” Starmer separately told Sky News’ Beth Rigby.

Starmer added that he was elected to a five-year term in 2024 and intends to serve it and lead the party into the next elections.

For months, Starmer has been reeling under domestic and external pressure. While backbenchers have continued to threaten a mutiny over the Mandelson scandal and public approval has fallen owing to the economic conditions worsened by the West Asia conflict, US President Donald Trump and his allies have consistently sought to undermine him and his government.

While
Trump has trashed Starmer for months, Elon Musk, his ally and financier, has previously publicly vowed to oust him and replace him with Farage.

Trump and his allies’ interreference in British politics is part of their project to topple moderate governments across Europe and replace them with far-right parties. They have so far endorsed Reform in the UK, neo-Nazi AfD in Germany, conservative President Karol Nawrocki in Poland, National Rally in France, and Viktor Orban in Hungary.