May elections: Badenoch rows back on Reform pacts as millions cast their votes – as it happened

Yesterday Kemi Badenoch gave an interview to Sky News suggesting she would be happy to see Conservative councillors working with Reform UK councillors to deliver rightwing policies.In an interview with the Sun published today, Badenoch rowed back on this. She said there would not be any deals because Reform councillors weren’t “serious”. She told the paper:double quotation markWe’re not doing deals with Reform. I don’t want to see us helping Reform

Starmer’s failure to demonstrate strong values ‘driving away progressive voters’

Progressive voters have been driven away from Labour by a lack of argument and vision from Keir Starmer, according to a report using research from a senior pollster to Tony Blair and Bill Clinton.Downing Street is understood to have been briefed on the research, which has also been handed to allies of the potential leadership candidates Andy Burnham, Wes Streeting and Angela Rayner.Labour is braced for dismal results in Thursday’s elections, which could result in Starmer facing a leadership challenge.The report from UCL’s Policy Lab, using research from the eminent pollster Stan Greenberg, suggested voters felt that Starmer had a “discomfort” with progressive values. Key fights that the government could pick included a more robust challenge to Donald Trump and a more passionate defence of environmentalism

Election results timeline: when do key battlegrounds in England, Scotland and Wales report?

Labour is braced for a brutal set of local, Scottish and Welsh election results that will define either the next phase of Keir Starmer’s prime ministership or bring about the end of it. Party strategists expect losses of close to 2,000 seats across England, Wales and Scotland but the damage could be a lot worse. The danger for the prime minister is not whether Labour loses heavily but where those losses come from and who those voters turn to.Across England, Reform UK is hoping to turn public anger over immigration, living standards and distrust of Westminster into local power. In progressive cities, the Greens believe voters are ready to punish Labour from the left, while in parts of Blackburn, Birmingham and east London the independents are continuing to capitalise on anger over Gaza

Major test for Labour as polls open in English, Scottish and Welsh elections

Polling has opened across England, Scotland and Wales in a series of local, mayoral and parliamentary contests – the biggest electoral test Keir Starmer and the Labour government have faced since the 2024 general election.As millions of people across Great Britain go to the polls on Thursday, party leaders are poised for a set of results that could fundamentally change the political landscape nationally in Scotland and Wales, and across local authorities in England.The results will be closely watched by all parties, and are seen as the first major political test of an increasingly multiparty system. They come after months of Labour and the Conservatives languishing in the polls, and the growing popularity of smaller parties such as Reform UK, the Greens and the Liberal Democrats.The elections cover the Scottish and Welsh parliaments and 136 local councils in England, where 5,014 seats are being contested, including every one on all of London’s 32 borough councils, more than a dozen borough councils, six unitary councils, six county councils and three district councils

Keir Starmer makes late pitch to voters turning to Greens and Reform

Labour is braced for record-breaking losses in Thursday’s local elections in England, which could be decisive for Keir Starmer’s future as prime minister.In a message to voters on Thursday, Starmer said Reform’s Nigel Farage and the Greens’ Zack Polanski were “not fit to meet this moment of great global instability” and that only Labour was putting the national interest first.“Today when you put your vote in the ballot box, you face a clear choice,” he said. “Progress and a better future for the community you call home, with a Labour council working with a Labour government. Versus the anger and division offered up by Reform or empty promises from the Greens

Cameo, speeches, pushing gold bullion: how Farage has made millions since becoming an MP

“There’s no money in politics,” Nigel Farage complained almost a decade ago, describing himself as “53, separated and skint”.He has since proved himself wrong. In less than two years in parliament, Farage has brought in £2m, including hospitality, through speeches, presenting, writing news articles, promoting gold bullion – and even recording modestly priced Cameo clips for his fans. It seems that every £70 video counts when it comes to making cash.This is on top of his annual salary as MP for Clacton of almost £100,000, and forthcoming pension from the European Union of about £73,000 a year, which he will be able to claim next year when he is 63