Starmer says he will not quit after Labour suffers local election losses

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer insisted Friday that he would not resign after bruising local and regional elections left his governing Labour Party facing large losses while Reform UK made major gains, according to results and reporting ahead of the political calendar’s next national vote.

Starmer said he took responsibility for the “very tough” results, which included Labour losing more than half the seats it was defending, and he said voters had sent a message about the pace of change and how they want improvements in their lives. In comments carried by the Associated Press, he argued that he was elected to meet those challenges and said he would not “walk away from those challenges and plunge the country into chaos.”

Reform UK’s performance, led by veteran nationalist politician Nigel Farage, came through wins of hundreds of local council seats in England’s north in working-class areas long treated as Labour turf, the report said. Reform also made gains from the Conservatives in areas such as Essex, east of London, with its anti-establishment and anti-immigration message described as playing a role in areas that backed the U.K. to leave the European Union in the 2016 Brexit referendum.

Alongside the rise of Reform, the elections also reflected other shifts. Labour lost ground to the Green Party, whose popularity the report said rose under leader Zack Polanski, including winning the mayoral race in London’s Hackney borough and taking hundreds of council seats in urban centers such as London and Manchester, as well as in university towns including Cambridge. The Conservative Party also lost ground, with the centrist Liberal Democrats making some gains.

The election results were widely seen as an unofficial referendum on Starmer, whose popularity has fallen since he led the center-left Labour Party to power less than two years ago, with voters described as growing impatient for economic growth and dramatic change after 14 years of Conservative government. The report said some Labour lawmakers urged Starmer to quit, while Cabinet ministers cautioned the party against toppling the prime minister, though they also described the results as a wake-up call.

Analysts said the outcomes underscored fragmentation in British politics. Tony Travers, a professor of government at the London School of Economics, said the elections showed established parties struggling to respond to populists on the left and right who offered solutions to “intractable political and economic problems.” John Curtice, a professor of politics at the University of Strathclyde, told the BBC that even Reform was likely not quite at 30% support, pointing to a broader fracturing of the political landscape.

In Scotland and Wales, nationalist parties took leading positions in elections to the Parliaments in Edinburgh and Cardiff, which have powers including over health and tax, according to the reporting. In Scotland, the Scottish National Party, which has governed since 2007 and campaigned on holding another referendum on Scotland leaving the U.K., won the most seats; because it fell short of a majority, analysts said it was less likely to pursue another referendum during the coming five-year parliamentary term. Labour was described as competing with Reform for second place as remaining seats were allocated.

In Wales, Plaid Cymru won what the report called a historic breakthrough that ended Labour’s unbroken 27-year run in power since the legislature was formed. Plaid Cymru fell short of a majority but was described as likely to form the new government, while the report said the Labour Party’s reverse was particularly striking because it involved the Welsh leader losing her seat and Labour dropping to third behind Reform. The outgoing Welsh First Minister, Eluned Morgan, said Welsh Labour had suffered a “catastrophic result,” adding that it ended a century of Labour winning in Wales and that the party would have to take a “really hard look” at itself.

Starmer’s future, however, remained uncertain after what the report described as a string of political headwinds affecting his standing, including missteps and policy U-turns such as welfare reform and difficulty delivering promised economic growth and repairing public services. The report also tied his political problems to wider pressures, including the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran that has choked off oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, and it cited the controversy around his appointment of Peter Mandelson as Britain’s ambassador to Washington. The Associated Press reported that election results could prompt a leadership challenge from figures such as Health Secretary Wes Streeting, former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, or Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, or pressure within Labour for Starmer to set a timetable for his departure.

Labour lawmaker Jonathan Brash, representing Hartlepool, said he did not think Keir Starmer should survive the results and argued that Labour needed new leadership to achieve bolder goals. Even if Starmer remains prime minister for now, the report said many in the party doubt he will lead Labour into the next national election, which must be held by 2029.