Most Labour members think Starmer cannot revive party fortunes, poll finds

The majority of Labour members say they do not believe Keir Starmer can turn around the party’s fortunes, while 45% say the prime minister should step down.The mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, was the first preference for 42% of members, who were asked to rank their preferred successor.Several Labour MPs – especially those who are close to Burnham – have told the Guardian that they would like to see a timetable for Starmer to stand down in an orderly and dignified way, including allowing the mayor time to seek a parliamentary seat.The poll was conducted just before Thursday’s elections, where Labour was fighting on all fronts, in local elections in England and parliamentary elections in Wales and Scotland. Nigel Farage’s Reform UK won hundreds of seats and control of more councils in England, Labour went backwards in Scotland as the SNP claimed a historic fifth victory and Plaid Cymru ended a century of Labour dominance in Wales, unseating the Labour first minister Eluned Morgan

John Swinney urges Starmer to show Scotland ‘greater respect’ after SNP victory

John Swinney, the Scottish National party leader, has challenged Keir Starmer to show “greater respect” to the Scottish government after winning the Holyrood elections by a comfortable margin.The Scottish National party secured a record fifth term in office on Friday after securing 58 of Holyrood’s 129 seats.In a dramatic conclusion to the day’s counting, Labour and Reform UK were left tied on 17 seats each after Highlands council finally finished its regional list count at 1.10am on Saturday, 16 hours after counting began.With Labour enduring its worst result since devolution in 1999, this puts the Scottish parliament in the unprecedented position of having two parties in joint second place, adding to Labour’s humiliation

Labour suffers historic defeat in Wales as Reform surges in English council elections and Greens make gains – as it happened

Plaid Cymru have won 43 seats in Wales’s Senedd election with all constituencies declared, Bethan McKernan reports, putting the Welsh nationalists in a comfortable position to form a minority government and ending more than 100 years of Labour hegemony.Polls consistently suggested Plaid Cymru and Reform UK were neck and neck in the race to become the biggest party under Wales’s new more proportional voting system.As in last year’s closely watched Caerphilly Senedd byelection, however, the contest was not as close as predicted. Reform has come in second, with 34 seats – up from 1% of the vote share in 2021’s election.Labour, for so long Wales’s political behemoth, has limped into third place with just nine seats in a 96 seat parliament

Nigel Farage hails ‘historic shift in politics’ after Reform UK election gains

Nigel Farage hailed sweeping election wins for Reform UK as a “historic shift in British politics” on a day when the populist party made gains at the expense of Labour and the Conservatives.Reform made advances in heartland areas of both parties, clocking up substantial early results in the English local elections by taking control of Essex county council, Havering – its first London local authority – and Sunderland city council.However, the results were not without setbacks, for example in Harlow, a past general election bellwether, while one prominent pollster suggested the party may have peaked and that Farage would have reason to be “privately worried”.Nevertheless, Reform established beachheads for the next general election in areas including Essex, home to the seats of prominent Tory MPs including Kemi Badenoch and James Cleverly, where Farage’s party went from having a single representative to taking control of the council.“It’s a big, big day, not just for our party but for a complete reshaping of British politics in every way,” Farage said as he appeared on Friday outside Havering town hall, in a borough on the eastern border of Greater London where many voters identify more closely with neighbouring Essex

Keir Starmer under pressure to agree exit plan after election mauling

Keir Starmer is under pressure to set out a timeline for his departure after a crushing defeat in elections across Britain prompted senior Labour MPs to call for him to step down within a year.In a disastrous set of results, Labour had lost control of more than 25 councils and more than 1,000 council seats in England by Friday night, many to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, which made large gains across the Midlands and the north as well as taking seats from the Tories in the south.After more than a century of domination, Labour has faced near-wipeout in Wales, where the party’s first minister, Eluned Morgan, lost her seat. Labour could slump to third place in Scotland behind the SNP and Reform. In London, a Green surge meant Labour lost control of councils it had dominated, including Hackney and Waltham Forest

Labour loses control of Birmingham city council after 14 years of leadership

The Labour party’s 14-year leadership in Birmingham has come to an end after Reform, Greens and pro-Gaza independents made significant gains in the UK’s second-largest city.No party has yet won an overall majority at Birmingham city council, one of Europe’s largest local authorities, with the results reflecting wider political fragmentation across England.Labour lost hundreds of council seats in England, many to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, which made big gains across the Midlands and the north as well as taking seats from the Tories in the south.Labour was expected to take significant losses in the all-out elections in Birmingham, where 101 seats were up for grabs. The council has been plagued by a series of problems in recent years, from the declaration of bankruptcy in 2023, subsequent cuts to local services and the ongoing bin strike – images of rubbish piled on the city’s streets have made headlines across the world