{"id":6539,"date":"2026-05-08T11:35:29","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T11:35:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/05\/08\/uks-labour-set-for-heavy-losses-in-elections-as-reform-makes-early-gains\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T11:35:29","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T11:35:29","slug":"uks-labour-set-for-heavy-losses-in-elections-as-reform-makes-early-gains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/05\/08\/uks-labour-set-for-heavy-losses-in-elections-as-reform-makes-early-gains\/","title":{"rendered":"UK\u2019s Labour set for heavy losses in elections as Reform makes early gains"},"content":{"rendered":"<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer\u2019s Labour Party is bracing for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/5\/7\/uk-voters-head-to-the-polls-in-local-elections\">heavy defeats in local elections<\/a>, with Reform UK poised to make gains across the country, according to early results.<\/p>\n<p>Labour\u2019s woes were already evident early on Friday, with the governing party losing more than 264 councillors and Nigel Farage\u2019s populist party Reform UK gaining 416 seats by 12pm local time (11:00 GMT), according to BBC figures.<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 1 item<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 1<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/5\/6\/who-is-zack-polanski-uk-greens-leader-and-rising-political-star\">Who is Zack Polanski, UK Greens leader and rising political star?<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>The election is seen as a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/5\/5\/starmers-referendum-how-local-elections-could-expose-a-fractured-uk\">key test of Starmer\u2019s leadership<\/a>, with Labour trailing behind Reform UK in opinion polls in recent months. In response to the early results, Starmer said he would take responsibility for the outcome but indicated that he would not step down.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDays like \u2060this don\u2019t weaken my resolve \u2060to deliver the change \u2060that \u2060I promised,\u201d Starmer was quoted by \u200cGB News as saying. \u201cThe results are tough, they are very tough, and there\u2019s no sugarcoating it,\u201d he said during a speech in West London on Friday morning.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have lost brilliant Labour representatives across the country, these are people who put so much into their communities, so much into our party,\u201d he added. \u201cAnd that hurts, and it should hurt, and I take responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Reporting from London, Al Jazeera\u2019s Camille Nedelec said these elections \u201cact very much as a bellwether\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>As well as being one of the most unpopular prime ministers, voters are increasingly blaming Starmer for their woes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe number one concern, according to an Ipsos survey, which was conducted a few weeks before the local elections, was the cost of living,\u201d added Nedelec.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"red-wall-losses\">\u2018Red Wall\u2019 losses<\/h2>\n<p>Some of Labour\u2019s biggest losses have been in the so-called \u201cRed Wall\u2019 strongholds, a belt of former industrial areas spanning the north of England that have traditionally voted for the centre-left party, where many of Starmer\u2019s ministers hold seats.<\/p>\n<p>Reform UK has made early gains in Greater Manchester and the Liverpool City Region, with more results to come in.<\/p>\n<p>In Wigan and Leigh, two former mining towns in North West England, Reform UK won 24 of 25 seats, and in nearby Tameside, it managed to end 47 years of Labour dominance of the region\u2019s council.<\/p>\n<p>Reform UK gained its first council of the campaign with Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire switching to the populist party from the Conservatives.<\/p>\n<p>Reform has been the \u201cbiggest winner of the night\u201d so far, said Nedelec.<\/p>\n<p>As the results trickled in overnight and into this morning in what Farage described as a historic moment, Nedelec added, \u201cThat very much seems to be the case because what we\u2019re seeing here is a move away from two-party politics because the Conservative Party is also losing seats across these local councils.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Conservative Party would have wanted to see whether or not their leader, Kemi Badenoch, could rally the British public behind her; that doesn\u2019t seem to be happening right now,\u201d noted Nedelec.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3957746\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3957746\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/GettyImages-2235387928-1758131475.jpg?w=770&#038;resize=770%2C578&#038;quality=80\" alt=\"Leader of the UK's Green Party, Zack Polanski, speaks to the media during a Stop Trump Coalition protest in Parliament Square, London\" fetchpriority=\"low\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3957746\">Green Party leader Zack Polanski has gained popularity in the UK with his pro-Palestine stance [James Manning\/PA Images via Getty Images]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>So far, it is a mixed day for the Conservatives, which governed the UK from 2010 to 2024, making gains in London, including in the Westminster Council, but losing 139 seats.<\/p>\n<p>The Greens, which were expected to challenge Labour from the left of the political spectrum, have so far failed to translate hype into votes, gaining only 23 seats so far.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/5\/6\/who-is-zack-polanski-uk-greens-leader-and-rising-political-star\">Green Party leader Zack Polanski<\/a> had capitalised on anger in the UK over Israel\u2019s genocidal war on Gaza and gained the support of younger voters.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"what-is-being-voted-for\">What is being voted for<\/h2>\n<p>There are about 5,000 seats up for grabs in 136 English councils, including in 32 boroughs in London, where Labour has traditionally dominated.<\/p>\n<p>Six mayoral elections will also take place in Croydon, Hackney, Lewisham, Newham and Tower Hamlets in Greater London, as well as nearby Watford.<\/p>\n<p>Voters will decide all 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, divided between 73 constituency MSPs and 56 regional MSPs, and the party with the most seats will form the next government, with the leader becoming the Scottish first minister.<\/p>\n<p>In Wales, 96 seats will be decided by proportional representation, with the party with the biggest share leading the government.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer\u2019s Labour Party is bracing for heavy defeats in local elections, with Reform UK poised to make gains across the country, according to early results. Labour\u2019s woes were already evident early on Friday, with the governing party losing more than 264 councillors and Nigel Farage\u2019s populist party Reform UK gaining &#8230; <a title=\"UK\u2019s Labour set for heavy losses in elections as Reform makes early gains\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/05\/08\/uks-labour-set-for-heavy-losses-in-elections-as-reform-makes-early-gains\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about UK\u2019s Labour set for heavy losses in elections as Reform makes early gains\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6540,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6539\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}