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What’s left of the left in the United Kingdom? That is the question following the Labour Party’s historic defeat in the local elections on 7 May. Out of the 5,066 local council seats up for election in England, Labour took only 1,068, leaving them with 1,496 fewer councilors. The Conservative Party also suffered, losing 563 councilors and winning only 801 council seats.
The big winner is Nigel Farage’s far-right Reform UK. Gaining 1,453 council seats, up from just two initially, the political party founded in 2018 in the wake of Brexit now has a local base that should serve it well in the general election scheduled for 2029. The rise of Reform UK, coupled with the success of the Greens (587 councilors, +441) and the Liberal Democrats (844, +155), could mark the beginning of the end of Britain’s two-party system.
The parliamentary elections held in Scotland and Wales on the same day saw Reform UK make its debut in the Edinburgh and Cardiff assemblies, primarily at the expense of Labour and the Conservatives.
Some see the Labour defeat as a rebuke of Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer, whose political survival is now hanging in the balance. While Starmer was already a divisive figure on the left before arriving at 10 Downing Street, he is now deeply unpopular, undermined by disastrous policy decisions and a string of scandals. Now he’ll need to win over both the country and his party once again, as members openly discuss his replacement.
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