UK’s Labour suffers early losses in crunch local polls

London: Britain’s ruling Labour Party suffered losses in local polls Friday, according to early results, as Nigel Farage’s anti-immigration Reform UK made clear gains.

The ballot is the biggest electoral test for beleaguered Prime Minister Keir Starmer, less than two years since he ousted the Conservatives following 14 years in power in a landslide election victory.

Grim results predicted by opinion polls appeared to being borne out in some areas first to declare.

By 8:00am, Reform had gained over 350 seats while Labour had lost over 240 across 40 of the 136 English councils to announce results so far.

The vast majority of results will not come until later Friday in the ballot across Scotland, England and Wales.

Big losses for Labour could amplify calls for Starmer, 63, to resign or face a long-rumoured party leadership challenge.

Before polls closed, The Times daily reported that Energy Secretary and former Labour leader Ed Miliband had privately urged Starmer to set out a timetable to step down after the elections.

But Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy insisted early Friday that a change of leadership would be a mistake.

“You don’t change the pilot during the flight, you carry on... Sometimes, particularly incumbent governments, have it hard,” he told BBC radio.

He conceded there was a “lot of frustration” but that “sometimes our mistakes have been heard more than our achievements”.

The party should stay strong and “pick up the pace”, he added.

Reform UK’s Farage hailed a “historic change in British politics”, telling reporters that there was “no more left-right”.

The ballot is deciding around 5,000 local council seats, out of 16,000, across England, while in Wales and Scotland voters are electing new devolved parliaments.

Reform UK and the left-wing Greens, led by self-described eco-populist Zack Polanski, is expected to benefit from widespread disillusionment with Starmer’s government.

Critics say Starmer has swerved from one policy misstep to another, and he has been embroiled in a scandal over Peter Mandelson, who was sacked as ambassador to Washington over his links to US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

He has also failed to fulfil his main promise of spurring economic growth, with impatient Britons still suffering a cost-of-living crisis, including from high energy prices.

The former lawyer is now one of the most unpopular prime ministers ever.

Surveys suggest Labour will lose control of the devolved Welsh government in Cardiff for the first time since Wales got its own parliament 27 years ago.

A More in Common poll published Tuesday projected Reform UK running neck-and-neck with the pro-independence Plaid Cymru in Labour’s former heartland.

Labour is also fearful of a drubbing in Scotland, where the Scottish National Party (SNP) is expected to extend its 19-year control of the devolved parliament in Edinburgh.

YouGov has predicted that Reform UK could force Labour into third place there.

Labour looks set for big losses in London as the Greens pick up disaffected left-wingers in urban areas with a pro-Gaza message.

Pollster Robert Hayward has predicted the ruling party could lose about 1,850 of the roughly 2,550 local authority seats it is defending.

He has tipped Reform to take 1,550 seats from Labour and Kemi Badenoch’s right-wing Conservatives - mostly in white, working-class areas.

The Conservatives are also bracing for the loss of traditional strongholds.

Britain’s media is full of rumours that ex-deputy prime minister Angela Rayner or Health Secretary Wes Streeting could try to oust Starmer after the results.

Neither is universally popular within Labour, however, and would need the backing of 20 percent of the party’s MPs to launch a contest.