The British Labour Party, led by Prime Minister Keir Starmer, suffered a catastrophic defeat in the local elections on Friday, and in its historic bases in the north and center of England, including Greater Manchester and Wigan, after nearly half a century of unchallenged dominance, it ceded control of local councils to the populist "English Reform" party. These results, which are being referred to as a "historic change in British politics", have sharply increased the pressure on Starmer to step down.
Publish dateSaturday 9 May 2026 - 09:24
Story Code : 353991
Afghan Voice Agency (AVA): According to Nornews and Reuters, the elections for 136 local councils in England, along with the elections for the local parliaments of Scotland and Wales, which are considered the most important test of public opinion before the general election in 2029, have turned into a full-fledged nightmare for the ruling party.
Labour strongholds in the north collapse; ‘demoralising’
Early results suggest Labour has completely disappeared from the scene in some of its most key constituencies. In Tameside Council in Greater Manchester, the English Reform Party took all 14 seats held by Labour, giving Starmer’s party the first time in nearly 50 years that it has lost control of the council.
In Wigan, a former mining area near Manchester that had been unchallenged by Labour for more than half a century, the party lost all 20 of its seats to Nigel Farage’s party. In Salford, Labour held just three of its 16 seats. Rebecca Long-Bailey, the Labour MP for Salford, described the results as ‘demoralising’.
“The picture we’ve seen so far is almost as bad as anyone could have predicted for Labour, if not worse,” said John Curtis, Britain’s most respected pollster, in a scathing assessment of the early results.
Farage: A historic shift is on the way
On the other hand, Nigel Farage, the leader of the English Reform Party and former Brexiteer, who is the main beneficiary of this political upheaval, welcomed the results as “a historic shift in British politics.” His party has already won more than 300 council seats in England and has the chance to become the main opposition in Scotland and Wales.
According to the initial count, Reform has gained 335 new seats, while Labour has lost 247 and the Conservatives 127. The full results, including the Scottish and Welsh elections, are due to be announced later on Friday.
The end of the two-party system; The Rise of Multi-Party Democracy
Analysts see these results as a continuation of the collapse of the traditional two-party system in England and the transition to a multi-party democracy; a development that, according to experts, is considered one of the biggest changes in the country's political landscape in the last century. The Labour and Conservative parties, which were once unrivaled, are now losing votes to the populist Reform Party on the one hand and the left-wing Green Party on the other. Nationalist parties are also expected to win local elections in Scotland and Wales.
The shadow of dismissal over Starmer
The heavy defeat has heightened speculation about Keir Starmer's political future. Some Labour MPs have warned that if the party performs poorly in Scotland, loses power in Wales and fails to hold onto a large proportion of its current 2,500 or so council seats in England, Starmer will face pressure to resign, or at least set a timetable for doing so.
However, the prime minister’s allies have been quick to act. Defence Secretary John Healey dismissed the scenario of Starmer’s ouster, telling Radio Times: “The last thing voters want is the potential chaos of a leadership election. I think he can still make a difference, he can still turn the tables.”
Starmer also has the advantage that Labour has never successfully ousted a sitting prime minister in its 125-year history. His two main candidates, Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham and Angela Rayner, the former deputy prime minister, are not yet in a position to make a leadership bid, and other rivals have shown little inclination to mount a political coup against him. The office of Energy Secretary Ed Miliband also strongly denied on Thursday a Times report that he had advised Starmer to plan for an exit.
A government in tatters amid scandals and policy reversals
Starmer, who came to power in 2024 with one of the largest parliamentary majorities in modern British history and on a promise of stability, now faces a record of policy reversals, a constantly changing group of advisers and the scandal surrounding the appointment and dismissal of Peter Mandelson, the British ambassador to the United States, over his links to American sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Polls predict that Labour could lose its biggest number of council seats since Conservative Prime Minister John Major in 1995, a government mired in a never-ending corruption scandal. Today's defeat has been described as the worst result for a governing party in a local election since then.
Labour strongholds in the north collapse; ‘demoralising’
Early results suggest Labour has completely disappeared from the scene in some of its most key constituencies. In Tameside Council in Greater Manchester, the English Reform Party took all 14 seats held by Labour, giving Starmer’s party the first time in nearly 50 years that it has lost control of the council.
In Wigan, a former mining area near Manchester that had been unchallenged by Labour for more than half a century, the party lost all 20 of its seats to Nigel Farage’s party. In Salford, Labour held just three of its 16 seats. Rebecca Long-Bailey, the Labour MP for Salford, described the results as ‘demoralising’.
“The picture we’ve seen so far is almost as bad as anyone could have predicted for Labour, if not worse,” said John Curtis, Britain’s most respected pollster, in a scathing assessment of the early results.
Farage: A historic shift is on the way
On the other hand, Nigel Farage, the leader of the English Reform Party and former Brexiteer, who is the main beneficiary of this political upheaval, welcomed the results as “a historic shift in British politics.” His party has already won more than 300 council seats in England and has the chance to become the main opposition in Scotland and Wales.
According to the initial count, Reform has gained 335 new seats, while Labour has lost 247 and the Conservatives 127. The full results, including the Scottish and Welsh elections, are due to be announced later on Friday.
The end of the two-party system; The Rise of Multi-Party Democracy
Analysts see these results as a continuation of the collapse of the traditional two-party system in England and the transition to a multi-party democracy; a development that, according to experts, is considered one of the biggest changes in the country's political landscape in the last century. The Labour and Conservative parties, which were once unrivaled, are now losing votes to the populist Reform Party on the one hand and the left-wing Green Party on the other. Nationalist parties are also expected to win local elections in Scotland and Wales.
The shadow of dismissal over Starmer
The heavy defeat has heightened speculation about Keir Starmer's political future. Some Labour MPs have warned that if the party performs poorly in Scotland, loses power in Wales and fails to hold onto a large proportion of its current 2,500 or so council seats in England, Starmer will face pressure to resign, or at least set a timetable for doing so.
However, the prime minister’s allies have been quick to act. Defence Secretary John Healey dismissed the scenario of Starmer’s ouster, telling Radio Times: “The last thing voters want is the potential chaos of a leadership election. I think he can still make a difference, he can still turn the tables.”
Starmer also has the advantage that Labour has never successfully ousted a sitting prime minister in its 125-year history. His two main candidates, Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham and Angela Rayner, the former deputy prime minister, are not yet in a position to make a leadership bid, and other rivals have shown little inclination to mount a political coup against him. The office of Energy Secretary Ed Miliband also strongly denied on Thursday a Times report that he had advised Starmer to plan for an exit.
A government in tatters amid scandals and policy reversals
Starmer, who came to power in 2024 with one of the largest parliamentary majorities in modern British history and on a promise of stability, now faces a record of policy reversals, a constantly changing group of advisers and the scandal surrounding the appointment and dismissal of Peter Mandelson, the British ambassador to the United States, over his links to American sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Polls predict that Labour could lose its biggest number of council seats since Conservative Prime Minister John Major in 1995, a government mired in a never-ending corruption scandal. Today's defeat has been described as the worst result for a governing party in a local election since then.
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