Labour and Conservatives Suffer Heavy Losses in UK Local Elections as Reform UK Surges

London — The United Kingdom's Labour Party and opposition Conservative Party, which have dominated British politics and supplied every prime minister for more than 100 years, both posted heavy losses in Thursday's local elections.

Labour leader and Prime Minister Keir Starmer faced a bruising result after his party lost more than half its seats on local councils across England. Votes were still being counted in Scotland and Wales on Friday.

Starmer became prime minister less than two years ago following Labour's landslide victory in the last national parliamentary elections. The defeats renewed calls for him to resign as party leader and prime minister.

Nigel Farage's right-wing populist Reform UK party emerged as the biggest winner, posting significant gains across England. Farage, an ideological ally of President Trump who has shared stages with him multiple times, described the outcome as "a truly historic shift in British politics." He said Labour was being "wiped out" in many traditional strongholds.

Starmer acknowledged the setback's scale, calling the results a "tough" warning from voters to his government. He rejected resignation demands, saying, "I'm not going to walk away from those challenges and plunge the country into chaos."

The elections covered about 5,000 seats on 136 city and county councils, plus six mayoral races. Those positions handle local issues like trash collection, road maintenance, social care and public housing.

Voters treated the contests as a gauge of national sentiment toward the government midway between general elections. The vote also gave smaller parties, independents and outsider candidates a chance to build support unavailable in parliamentary races.

Results from Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly elections began arriving Friday.

The outcome reinforced trends worrying both major parties. Starmer said, "It hurts, and it should hurt, and I take responsibility. Tough days like this don't weaken my resolve to deliver the change that I promised. They strengthen my resolve."

The Conservatives, who governed for 14 years before their 2024 landslide defeat, also took major hits. Party leader Kemi Badenoch watched her group struggle amid lingering voter discontent.

Reform UK has gained steadily and, in working-class and post-industrial areas long held by Labour, is increasingly viewed as the primary opposition to the Conservatives.

The Green Party of England and Wales recorded minor advances. Greens leader Zack Polanski campaigned amid controversy after reposting a social media message that criticized London police for arresting a knife-wielding man following a stabbing that wounded two Jewish men last week.

Polanski hailed his party's results as proof Britain's two-party system "is not just dying, it is dead and it is buried."