Tories lose 15 councils amid Reform’s English local elections surge
Peterborough. Photo PA/PA Wire
The Conservative Party has lost every council it was defending in Thursday’s local elections in England after it found itself squeezed between Reform UK and the Liberal Democrats.
Kemi Badenoch’s party began Thursday holding 15 of the councils up for election, but by Friday evening had lost control of every single one of them.
Reform was the main beneficiary of the Conservative collapse, winning more than 600 seats and taking control of 10 local authorities stretching from Kent to Co Durham.
Nigel Farage’s party also managed to topple a 14,000-strong Labour majority in the parliamentary by-election in Runcorn and Helsby, and win mayoral contests in Greater Lincolnshire and Hull and East Yorkshire.
‘Wiped out’
Mr Farage himself said his party had “the Labour Party for lunch” and “wiped out” the Conservatives in parts of England as he declared the results “the end of two-party politics”.
But even in areas where Reform was less successful, the Tories found themselves struggling against the Lib Dems, who won control of Cambridgeshire, Oxfordshire and Shropshire and became the largest party in Devon, Wiltshire, Hertfordshire and Gloucestershire.
Sir Ed Davey said the results showed the Lib Dems were now “the party of middle England”.
The one bright spot for the Tories came in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, where former MP Paul Bristow won the mayoralty as Labour fell to third place behind Reform.
Conservative figures sought to deny that the results were “existential” for the party, while Mrs Badenoch insisted the Tories were still Labour’s main opposition.
But, apologising to defeated Tory councillors, she conceded her party still had “a big job to do to rebuild trust with the public”.
She said: “That’s the job the Conservative Party has given me and I am going to make sure that we get ourselves back to the place where we are seen as the credible alternative to Labour.”
‘Disappointing’
Meanwhile, Sir Keir Starmer acknowledged that the results were “disappointing”, while one of his top ministers, Pat McFadden, said the party would have to “take that on the chin”.
Speaking to reporters during a visit to Bedfordshire on Friday following the result, Sir Keir said: “What I want to say is, my response is we get it.
“We were elected in last year to bring about change.”
He said that his party has “started that work”, such as bringing in measures to cut NHS waiting lists, adding: “I am determined that we will go further and faster on the change that people want to see.”
But figures within his party have publicly called on the Government to change course, including backbench MPs Diane Abbott, Brian Leishman and Emma Lewell.
“The first 10 months haven’t been good enough or what the people want and if we don’t improve people’s living standards, then the next government will be an extreme right-wing one,” Mr Leishman, who was first elected last year, said.
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It’ll be instructive to see what impact Reform might make in next year’s elections to our Senedd.
I doubt that it’ll be as significant as has proved to have been the case in yesterday’s elections in certain parts of middle England; but I wouldn’t rule out some Reform wins in, for instance, south Pembrokeshire, in Llanelli, in parts of Wales’s north-east and in some Glamorgan and Gwent valley areas.
Llanelli is a three horse race. Plaid making progress in local elections.
I mentioned Llanelli specifically because, some time back but subsequent to last year’s Westminster election, the polling company Electoral Calculus published survey findings which suggested that if there were to be an election at that point, Llanelli would elect a Reform MP. At that moment it was the only Welsh Westminster constituency to indicate such an outcome.
It’s a crude poll. I campaigned on the ground with our candidate. Reform hoovered up the right wing vote but the votes Labour lost went four ways. Plaid didn’t do enough to make sure all those votes came our way. Our vote and that of the Libs and Greens went up … by a combined total that could have seen Plaid win the seat. In the end, those votes were wasted. The poll you quote is purely looking at numbers and assumes Lab –> Ref. Not the case in Llanelli. We in Plaid have to do better to persuade progressive… Read more »
Great post. Probably as it appears to follow what I think. Plaid have to reach out beyond their heartlands and come up with a believable and attractive set of policies. They cannot rely on picking up votes just because they are the largest alternative party for Labour voters. As for the Greens and Lib Dems, Plaid will have to continually push the message that (apart from a few constituencies) a vote for them is a vote for Reform.
Diolch Llyn – 100%. We have won beyond the traditional heartlands before. Leanne Wood showed it can be done as did Helen Mary. We have to be the party of Welsh Democracy and Welsh progress. Many folk want us to be centrist. I disagree. Labour are losing votes to the left because of their rightwards move. We need an economic plan that offers an alternative to the Unionists London centric neoliberal model. We offer a constitutional model that is ground up democracy instead of top down UK imperialism. We beat Labour from the Left.
‘We have won beyond the traditional heartlands before.’
True enough. I well recall the times when Plaid – to Labour’s oft-expressed frustration and fury! – took control of Merthyr Tudful borough and the former Cwm Rhymni district councils, and, on and off, hung on there for some time.
The town hall exchanges were passionate and often rather rude – but then it was in the valleys, after all! – but Plaid’s victories were a rational response to the endemic corruption which too often characterized south Wales Labour back then.
Well, clearly you’re ‘on the spot’ down there and I’m not – these days I live at the opposite end of the country, up in Sir Ddinbych. On the other hand I subscribe to e-mails from Electoral Calculus in order to get their latest voter opinion surveys as soon as they come out, and they clearly run a commercial survey operation seeking to attract custom from the world well beyond politics. So I doubt that they’d risk professional reputational damage by publishing an overly ‘crude’ poll! But I do recall that they published that poll in the midst of all… Read more »
Glad to hear it John.
I am far from a Tory supporter but they are better than Farage’s Reform – or at least they used to be before they started to try and ape the far right party. It’s going to take many many years for them to recover. The LibDems were outcasts for quite a lengthy time just because of the student fees debacle so it’ll be far longer for a conservative party that trashed the country for 14 years. Reform will eventually help them. It’s all right shouting change from the fringes but putting those changes into practice once in power is a… Read more »
Yes, scrutiny will show that many members and even candidates have moved from Britain First to Reform. It also has in its team in Wales a couple of sinister characters that you would not want them anywhere near the Senedd. Some of the comments I have heard from them have disgusted me!!!
Mark Reckless, the far-right English nationalist, former UKIP and Abolish member and in the running to be Reform’s candidate for First Minister has in the past been publicly backed by the neo-Nazi Britain First.
I wouldn’t make that mistake Steve. All the more centrist, liberal minded conservatives were booted out in the Johnson era. A lot of libertarians and culture warriors left. They’re ripe to be absorbed into Reform.
Tory party is bought and paid for now by the GOP. There is a fag paper between their intent and reform. The US far right had two prongs of attack into the UK.
The big clue was when Kemi refused to call out Musk over his disgusting comments attacking two MP’s that have done more that she did, then meetings with Vance came to light. Be under no illusions to the way the Tory party will take the UK.
The amount of UK business/infrastructure that is now owned by American business is frightening. Never mind 51st State – vassal state would be closer to the truth. That, plus the archaic Empire constitution of the UK is an excellent reason in and of itself for its end and replacement. Europe is a patchwork of nations and cultures. Britain is a microcosm of that. A British confederation of nation states each with membership of the EU should be our desired destination. Along the way, ensuring ownership of capital moves back to the people is vital if we are to have a… Read more »
John, I am no fan of Reform but I guarantee they will get far more than “some Reform wins in, for instance, south Pembrokeshire, in Llanelli, in parts of Wales’s”. They may well win more cores and seats than any other party.
Farage claiming the beginning of the end of the Cons seemed a stretch at first until you realise his UKIP probably did help nudge Call Me Dave into pressing the self-destruct button to solve an HR problem.