Votes are still being counted from England’s local elections held on May 1, but one thing is already clear: Nigel Farage’s Reform UK is the winner. In a shift that confirmed earlier polls predicting heavy losses for both Labour and the Conservatives, Reform UK gained hundreds of council seats across the 1,600 contested this year and made additional gains in parliamentary by-elections.
By late Friday afternoon, Reform UK had secured almost 550 seats – up from zero – and taken control of seven councils. The Liberal Democrats and the Greens also saw a positive result, adding 120 and 35 seats respectively. Meanwhile, the Conservatives lost 530, and Labour close to 150 seats.
Read more: Labour turns to the right while chasing Reform
While the results are undoubtedly grim for the Conservatives, they also deliver a strong warning to Labour. Reform UK’s wins even in traditional Labour constituencies, such as Durham, signal growing anger with Keir Starmer’s policy direction. Labour activists canvassing in these areas said they were met with widespread frustration on the doorstep, particularly over the party’s disability benefit cuts, the two-child cap, and reductions of winter fuel payments.
Yet Labour’s leadership appears unconvinced to take such criticism seriously. In his first reaction to the results, Starmer signaled he would pursue the current agenda, only with more zeal. Progressive voices within the party warned that this is likely to alienate even more voters. “They [party leadership] don’t seem to understand that it is our current direction that is the problem,” Labour’s Diane Abbott noted.
“Labour’s campaign for these elections was non-stop boats, asylum, deportation, courts,” Abbott wrote on social media. “It was all about copying Reform UK. It was a disaster. It should stop.”
The campaign group Momentum echoed her warnings: “By continuing austerity, pandering to the far right, and failing to offer real change, the Labour leadership risks handing the country to the likes of Nigel Farage.”
This year’s local elections are widely seen as an early indicator of what could unfold in the next general election. While both major parties technically still have time to change course, Labour’s current path suggests a broader realignment favoring the far right might be just around the corner. In response, anti-racist organizations and trade unionists have promised to resist Reform UK’s xenophobic, hate-driven politics and oppose its plans to dismantle social security and healthcare rights.
