U.K. Local Election Results Point to Big Losses for Starmer’s Party
Early results from the 2026 U.K. local elections are indeed pointing to heavy losses for Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour Party, casting a cloud over his government barely two years after it came to power.
What the results show
Across England, Labour is projected to lose well over 1,500 council seats, with exit polls and first tallies suggesting that the party may end up a distant third in many local contests. Dozens of councils have already shifted out of Labour control, including several in the party’s traditional northern “heartland” such as Hartlepool, Wigan, and Tameside.
Who is gaining ground
The biggest beneficiary so far is Nigel Farage’s hard‑right Reform UK, which has gained more than 300 council seats and taken control of several councils Labour previously held or that were previously under Conservative or no‑overall‑control arrangements. The Conservatives are also losing ground overall, but the Greens and Liberal Democrats are making modest gains in specific areas, signaling further fragmentation of the old two‑party system.
Implications for Starmer
Starmer has publicly acknowledged that “the voters have sent a message” and admitted Labour’s losses as a referendum on his leadership, particularly on the pace of change and cost‑of‑living pressures. While these local elections do not change the composition of Parliament or remove the government, they are widely framed as an early warning of a potential rout at the next general election if Labour fails to regain lost support.
