Starmer 'not going to walk away' despite election losses

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer will outline plans to reset his leadership following "unnecessary mistakes" and a disastrous set of local election results.

The prime minister said he was "not going to walk away" from the challenges facing him, despite continued speculation about his position.

Labour has lost hundreds of councillors in the English council elections, with further results from Scotland, Wales and local authorities in England expected to heap further pressure on Mr Starmer.

Speaking in Ealing, west London, where Labour retained control despite losing 10 seats, Mr Starmer said: "The voters have sent a message about the pace of change, how they want their lives improved.

"I was elected to meet those challenges but I'm not going to walk away from those challenges."
The King’s Speech on Wednesday will offer a chance for a reset as he sets out the next steps for his premiership.

Mr Starmer has insisted he would carry on as British prime minister despite his Labour party suffering disastrous local election losses.

He acknowledged it had been a "tough" night for Labour but said that "days like this don't weaken my resolve to deliver the change that I promised".

Nigel Farage’s Reform UK made gains across the country as hundreds of Labour councillors were voted out, heaping pressure on Mr Starmer.

Mr Farage said the results showed a "truly historic shift in British politics" away from the old era of Labour and Conservative domination, vowing "the best is yet to come" for his party.

The prime minister faces further heavy losses as vote counting continues throughout today in both English local elections and contests for the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Senedd.

Watch: Starmer says he will not resign after local election losses
Labour to be reduced to 10 members in Welsh elections
Welsh Labour expect to be reduced from 29 to around 10 members in the Senedd, with a party spokesperson saying they are "deeply disappointed" they will not lead the government.

It comes after Labour's deputy leader in Wales appeared to concede a historic defeat in the Senedd elections, with the party also suffering disastrous local election results in England overnight.

The party has been the largest at country-wide elections in Wales for more than a century and had won the most seats in the Welsh Parliament since its creation more than two decades ago.

Prime Minister Starmer, speaking this morning, said: "The results are tough, they are very tough, and there's no sugarcoating it.

"We have lost brilliant Labour representatives across the country, these are people who put so much into their communities, so much into our party.

"And that hurts, and it should hurt, and I take responsibility."
Mr Starmer has already faced speculation about his leadership, with the Times of London reporting Energy Secretary Ed Miliband had urged him to set out a timetable for his departure.

Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy urged his party not to play "pass the parcel" with the leadership in response to the election results.

Defence Secretary John Healey said Mr Starmer should be given more time, saying "he can still turn it round".

But Hartlepool MP Jonathan Brash, who watched his wife lose her council seat overnight as Reform UK surged in the authority, said: "It's clear to me that the prime minister should take this opportunity to set out a timetable for his own departure, and then allow for the widest possible leadership election that includes all the talents of our party."
Labour sources pointed to poor local election results under previous prime ministers, including Tony Blair who lost 1,100 councillors in 1999 but went on to win re-election in a landslide in 2001.

'Historic change in British politics', says Farage
Meanwhile, Mr Farage hailed early results from yesterday's local election as a sign his party was on course for victory at a general election that is still up to three years away.

A jubilant Mr Farage heralded a "historic change in British politics," telling reporters "there is no more left-right" as his outfit was "scoring stunning percentages in traditional old Labour areas".

His party claimed victory in Havering, its first London borough, and Mr Farage said it showed Reform were a truly national outfit, with gains across England and progress expected in Scotland and Wales.

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."
Reform also took control of Essex County Council, Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch’s local authority, from the Conservatives.

The Reform leader compared the substantial gains to clearing Becher's Brook, a famously difficult jump in the Grand National.

Read more: Reform UK arrives as major force in British politics Watch: 'Truly historic shift in UK politics,' says Farage
"If we cleared Becher’s Brook and landed well, we go on to win the Grand National.

"What is very clear to me is that our voters will stick with us now all the way through."
With 85 of the 136 councils declaring their full results, Reform's gains reached 816 seats while Labour had lost more than 600.

Mr Farage’s party also took control of its first council of this set of contests, taking Newcastle-under-Lyme from the Conservatives.

Labour's losses included Wandsworth and Westminster in London, and Tameside, which includes Angela Rayner’s Greater Manchester constituency.

The Liberal Democrats appeared on course to record an eighth consecutive year of council gains, putting on over 60 seats, taking control of Stockport and Portsmouth, and becoming the only party on Richmond upon Thames Council, but they lost their slender majority in Hull.

The Conservatives suffered nearly 400 losses but enjoyed some bright points, managing to regain Westminster from Labour and hold on to Harlow in Essex and Broxbourne in Hertfordshire, and they once again became the largest party in their former flagship authority in Wandsworth.

The Green Party’s Zoe Garbett was elected mayor of Hackney in a defeat for Labour, with the party hoping to make further gains in the capital.

The Green party had gained 158 seats in the English council elections with 85 councils declared.

Polling guru John Curtice said the results confirmed "the fracturing of British politics", telling the BBC that Reform was clearly ahead but still "probably not quite at 30% of the vote" while other parties were "just a little bit below 20%".

He suggested the results may not be as bad for Labour as some had predicted, saying the party could lose less than 1,500 seats.

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