From the Liveblog of
Friday, May 8, 2026
UK’s Labour suffers heavy losses to far-right Reform as results of local elections trickle in
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleBritish Prime Minister Keir Starmer is suffering heavy early losses as results from yesterday’s local elections begin rolling in, showing the depth of voter anger with his government and raising fresh doubts about his future just two years after a landslide general election victory.
Starmer’s Labour Party is hemorrhaging support in areas reporting results overnight, including traditional strongholds in former industrial regions of central and northern England, along with some parts of London.
The main beneficiary is the anti-immigration populist Reform UK of Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage, which has so far gained more than 200 council seats in England, and could form the main opposition in Scotland and Wales to the pro-independence Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru.
“The picture has been pretty much as bad as anyone expected for Labour, or worse,” says John Curtice, Britain’s most respected pollster.
The elections for 136 local councils in England, alongside the devolved parliaments in Scotland and Wales, represent the most significant test of public opinion before the next general election due in 2029.
The once-dominant Labour and Conservative parties are losing votes to Reform, and at the other end of the political spectrum to the left-wing Green Party, while nationalist parties are expected to win the elections in Scotland and Wales.
Farage says the results so far are “way exceeding” his expectations and represent a “historic change in British politics.”
As of around 6 a.m. in the UK (8 a.m. Israel time), the BBC showed Reform had won 292 council seats, and the Greens had gained 22 new spots, bringing the party’s total number of council seats across England to 43. Labour, by contrast, had lost 221 seats, and the Conservatives 106.
Labour has been wiped out in some of the most closely watched early results, but around 4,200 seats have yet to be declared.
Labour lawmakers say if the party performs poorly in Scotland, loses power in Wales, and fails to hold many of the roughly 2,500 council seats it is defending in England, then Starmer will face renewed pressure to quit or set out a timetable for his departure.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.