Sir Keir Starmer’s position in No 10 is under intense pressure after an electoral mauling in Labour’s heartlands saw Nigel Farage’s Reform UK make stunning gains.
The Prime Minister said he was hurt by results which left Labour humiliated in Wales and defeated in English councils it had controlled for generations.
First Minister of Wales Eluned Morgan was the highest profile casualty as she failed to win a seat in the newly-expanded Senedd, with Plaid Cymru and Reform hammering Labour.
She called for Sir Keir’s Government to “change course” and “go back to being the party of the working class”.
Some prominent Labour figures in Westminster questioned Sir Keir’s position but the Prime Minister insisted he would not “walk away and plunge the country into chaos”.
In Wales, Plaid’s Rhun ap Iorwerth looks set to be the new first minister after his party became the largest in the Senedd, with Reform second and Labour reduced to a single-digit rump having dominated politics in Cardiff Bay since devolution.
The SNP look set to continue in power in Holyrood, with Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar acknowledging his party “didn’t win the argument”.
Mr Farage claimed the elections illustrated a “truly historic shift in British politics”.
Labour also suffered from voters switching to the Green Party as Zack Polanski said of the era of two-party politics “it not just dying, it is dead and it is buried”.
Sir Keir, whose position was already weakened by Labour’s plummeting poll ratings, acknowledged his Government had made “unnecessary mistakes” in office but added: “I’m not going to walk away and plunge the country into chaos.”
He said: “The results are tough, they are very tough, and there’s no sugar-coating it.”
He insisted “I take responsibility” but “tough days like this, they don’t weaken my resolve to deliver the change that I promised at the general election – they strengthen my resolve to do so”.
Reform took Sunderland from Labour, a council containing Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson’s Westminster seat.
It also became the second largest party in Tameside as Labour lost its majority in the Greater Manchester council after an uninterrupted run of 47 years in charge – the area contains the parliamentary constituency of former deputy party leader Angela Rayner.
In Barnsley, Reform ended more than 50 years of Labour rule, in St Helens Mr Farage’s party took the council by gaining 31 seats as Labour lost 24, while in Leeds Labour lost control of the council as it lost 10 seats and Reform gained eight.
Mr Farage said: “We have absolutely torn the most massive historic chunk out of the Labour vote in the north of England.”
In the Midlands, Labour suffered a drubbing in Sandwell, losing 33 seats as Reform gained 41 and control of the council.
Reform’s successes also included wins in Havering, its first London borough, and taking Essex County Council – Tory leader Kemi Badenoch’s local authority – and Suffolk from the Conservatives.
Mr Farage said: “It’s a big, big day, not just for our party, but for a complete reshaping of British politics in every way.”
In London, the Green Party defeated Labour mayors in Hackney and Lewisham and took control of Waltham Forest council.
In Manchester the Greens gained 17 seats, illustrating the threat they pose in Labour’s former urban strongholds.
Former Cabinet minister Louise Haigh told ITV Calendar: “I think what is abundantly clear is that unless the Government delivers significant and urgent change, then the Prime Minister cannot lead us into another election.”
Richard Burgon, leader of the Socialist Campaign Group of left-wing Labour MPs, demanded Sir Keir set out a timetable for his departure.
“It is clear that Keir has fought his last election as Labour leader and, deep down, he will know it,” he said.
Mr Burgon warned against a “stitch up” of the type that prevented Andy Burnham from standing in the Gorton and Denton by-election
The Greater Manchester Mayor is widely viewed as a potential challenger to Sir Keir if he can find a way to win a by-election to return to Westminster.
Andrea Egan, general secretary of the Unison union, warned “Labour faces political oblivion because it’s simply not delivering for the majority of people” and “there’ll clearly be a change of Labour leader sooner or later”.
But an apparently co-ordinated campaign was mounted to shore up support for Sir Keir, with ministers and Labour grandees warning against the disruption of a leadership contest.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said the results were “brutal” but “the last thing we need is to descend into a vanity leadership contest”.
Key developments after 106 of 136 English councils had declared full results:
– Labour had lost control of 23 councils and suffered a net loss of 732 seats.
– Reform gained control of 10 councils and added 1,011 seats.
– The Conservatives suffered a net loss of five councils and 301 councillors.
– The Liberal Democrats won control in Portsmouth and gained a net 48 seats across the country.
– The Green Party gained control of three councils and put on 160 councillors.
– In Scotland after 70 first-past-the-post results, the SNP had 55 seats, with the Liberal Democrats on six, the Conservatives on four, Labour on three and the Scottish Greens on two.
– In Wales, Plaid Cymru have 43 seats in the Senedd, with Reform on 34, Labour on nine, the Conservatives on seven, the Greens on two and the Liberal Democrats on one.