Keir Starmer vows to round off election campaigns ‘fighting for every vote’

Sir Keir Starmer has vowed to go into polling day “fighting for every vote” but acknowledged Labour could be in for a “challenge”, as political leaders conclude their local election campaign trails.

Wednesday marks the final full day of campaigning before polls open on Thursday across England, Scotland and Wales.

Almost 25,000 candidates are fighting to be elected to more than 5,000 seats on 136 councils across England.

In Scotland, all 129 seats are up for election in Holyrood, while voters in Wales will choose a set of 96 members of the Senedd.

At a Labour campaign rally in south London on Tuesday, Prime Minister Sir Keir was asked how he could convince voters to support his party in Thursday’s election, as it faces a slump in opinion polls.

“As you can see, we’ve got a fantastic Labour team working every single day in London and across the country, campaigning with fantastic councillors and candidates and with a very positive message,” he replied.

“Of course, it’s going to be a challenge, but it is really important we go in fighting for every vote, which has to be earned, in relation to this.”

In a further pitch to voters, Sir Keir wrote in Wednesday’s Mirror newspaper: “On Thursday, when you go to put your vote in the ballot box, there’s a clear choice on that piece of paper.

“Unity or division. Progress versus the politics of anger. The right plan for our country up against easy answers that will lead us nowhere.”

The Welsh Labour leader has faced questions about whether Thursday’s vote could see her party lose control of the Senedd, with Plaid Cymru or Reform UK taking control.

“I’m certainly hoping that they won’t do that,” Baroness Eluned Morgan of Ely told The Telegraph.

“But there is a danger that that could happen, and I don’t want to see that happening.

“I do hope people will reflect on what this election is really about – and it isn’t a time, I think, to pick a fight with Starmer. There’s a general election, that’s the time to do that.”

In Solihull, West Midlands, Kemi Badenoch told Conservative Party campaigners on Tuesday that Sir Keir was already fighting a “shadow leadership contest”, with Labour backers “talking about what their party should stand for two years into Government”.

She also said: “The Conservative Party is on the side of people who want to get on, people who are saving up to buy a home, mums and dads who are trying to build a better life for their children.

“These are our people and we are fighting for them at this election – here in Solihull, all over Scotland and Wales, in London, in Essex, in Swindon, in Sunderland, in Norfolk, in Plymouth, everywhere the people have a vote.”

Speaking to the Press Association, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey also listed areas he expected his party to take seats.

“I’m looking forward to next Thursday,” he told PA.

“I think we’re going to make some really big gains in London where I think we’ll take seats off the Labour Party and indeed off Labour in places like Birmingham and Scotland.

“But I do think across the south of England – Surrey and Sussex, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Huntingdonshire, we’re going to make big gains from the Conservatives.

“So, we’re looking forward to a good night on Thursday.”

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage spent Tuesday evening in Merthyr Tydfil, where he said Wales had become a “basket case” after being led by Labour for more than two decades.

“The party that has been able, frankly, to take Wales for granted for over 100 years on Thursday will deservedly get smashed to smithereens by the electorate,” he said.

Mr Farage, whose party’s election campaign slogan is “Vote Reform, get Starmer out”, added: “Getting rid of Starmer will begin the descending spiral of this Government.

“The realisation that our economy is broken, that the country is, frankly, bankrupt, and will precipitate an earlier general election.

“And I still believe that a general election next year is likely.”

Green Party leader Zack Polanski described Thursday’s votes as “a vital set of elections”.

In a video message to his party’s backers, filmed in the South Wales Senedd seat of Caerdydd Penarth and posted to X, Mr Polanski said: “This is a vital moment that will change Wales forever.”

Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth told his supporters the Welsh election was “going down to the wire”.

Also in a video message posted to X, Mr ap Iorwerth said: “The future of Wales depends on this.”

He described Plaid as “the only party rooted in Wales, with a plan for Wales, focused only on Wales, accountable only to the people of Wales, and the only party that can beat Reform”.