Partial results show losses for Starmer’s Labour in UK polls

LONDON — Prime Minister Keir Starmer insisted Friday that he will not resign after bruising elections that saw his governing Labour Party suffer big losses and the anti-immigration party Reform UK make major gains.

The local and regional elections are widely seen as an unofficial referendum on Starmer, whose popularity has plummeted since he led Labour to power less than two years ago.

Voters have grown impatient for economic growth and dramatic change after 14 years of Conservative government, and many Labour lawmakers have become despairing at the government's failure to deliver.

Starmer said he took responsibility for the “very tough” results but would not quit.

“The voters have sent a message about the pace of change, how they want their lives improved,” he said. “I was elected to meet those challenges, and I’m not going to walk away from those challenges and plunge the country into chaos.”

Reform UK, led by the veteran nationalist politician Nigel Farage, won hundreds of local council seats in working-class areas in England's north such as Hartlepool that once were solid Labour turf, and also made gains from the Conservatives in areas like Havering on the eastern edge of London.

Farage said the results marked a “historic change in British politics.”

Reform took seats from both Labour and the Conservatives as results were tallied across England. Votes were also being counted in contests for semiautonomous parliaments in Scotland and Wales.

A Labour rout in the elections could trigger restive party lawmakers to call for the leader, who won a landslide victory in July 2024, to announce a timetable for his departure. Even if Starmer survives for now, many analysts doubt he will lead the party into the next national election, which must be held by 2029.

Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy cautioned the party not to topple the prime minister, saying “you don’t change the pilot during the flight.”

Results reflect fragmentation of UK politics

Labour lost votes to Reform UK, running on an anti-establishment, anti-immigration message, and also to the Green Party, whose popularity has risen under self-described "eco populist" leader Zack Polanski. The Greens beat Labour to win the mayoral race in London's Hackney borough and gained hundreds of council seats in urban centers, as in Manchester, and university towns, such as Cambridge.

The Conservative Party also lost ground, with the centrist Liberal Democrats making some gains.

Tony Travers, professor of government at the London School of Economics, said the elections show established parties struggling “to respond to populists on the left and right who appear to provide painless and simple solutions to intractable political and economic problems.”

The results reflect a fragmentation of British politics after decades of domination by Labour and the Conservatives, and make the outcome of the country's next national election hard to predict.

John Curtice, professor of politics at the University of Strathclyde, said Britain is entering a new political era where “none of the parties are very big.

“Even Reform are probably not quite at 30% of the vote, so the fracturing of British politics is underlined by these results,” he told the BBC.

Scotland and Wales go their own way

In Scotland and Wales, there were elections to their respective parliaments and for the first time, nationalist parties appear poised to come top in both.

In Scotland, the Scottish National Party, which has governed since 2007 and campaigned on a promise to hold another referendum on Scotland leaving the U.K., is on course to win the most seats in the Edinburgh legislature.

And in Wales, Plaid Cymru looks set for a historic breakthrough, bringing an end to Labour's unbroken 27-year run in power in the Cardiff-based government.

The huge reverse for Labour in Wales, which saw its leader lose her seat and the party drop to third at best, is perhaps the party's most striking reverse and the one that may hurt the most.

“Welsh Labour has today suffered a catastrophic result,” said outgoing Welsh First Minister Eluned Morgan. “It ends a century of Labour winning in Wales and the party will have to take a really hard look at itself.”

As in England, Reform UK made eye-catching breakthroughs in both Scotland and Wales.

Starmer's future is under threat

Starmer's popularity has plunged after repeated missteps and U-turns on policies such as welfare reform. His government has struggled to deliver promised economic growth, repair tattered public services and ease the cost of living — tasks made harder by the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, which has choked off oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.

The prime minister has been further hurt by his disastrous decision to appoint Peter Mandelson, a scandal-tarnished friend of Jeffrey Epstein, as Britain's ambassador to Washington.

Poor election results could trigger a challenge from a high-profile rival such as Health Secretary Wes Streeting, former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner or Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham. Alternatively, Starmer could face pressure from the party to set a timetable for his departure after an orderly leadership contest.

“I don’t think Keir Starmer should survive these results,” said Labour lawmaker Jonathan Brash, who represents Hartlepool in Parliament. “We have to be bolder, and we have to go further. And quite frankly, we need new leadership in order to achieve that.”

Pan Pylas contributed to this report.