The collapse of the UK Labour Party’s vote in a series of local elections this month has amplified the existing crisis for the government and provides further evidence of the polarisation gripping British politics. The results confirm what the polls have been signalling: that the century-long dominance of Labour and the Conservatives is breaking apart. Reform, Nigel Farage's hard-right party, won the most ground—but the Green surge is evidence that there is also movement towards the left. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is yet to walk the plank, but the sharks are circling ever closer.
The results
Labour suffered major losses across England, Scotland and Wales. For the first time since the establishment of a national parliament (Senedd) in Wales in 1999, Labour lost its majority there. To rub salt in the wound, Labour First Minister Eluned Morgan was beaten in her own seat.
In Scotland, the Scottish National Party will remain the largest party in Holyrood, while the Conservative vote collapsed, the party holding on to just 12 seats, down from 31 at the previous election.
In the English council elections, Labour lost 1,496 councillors and control of 38 councils. In the north-east, traditionally the industrial heartland of Labour, the party was reduced to just one seat in South Tyneside (down from 28), two in Newcastle (down from 46), five in Sunderland (down from 54), and twelve in Gateshead (down from 48).
In England, Reform made major gains, taking control of fourteen councils and winning 1,453 seats. The Greens also made significant advances, particularly in London, winning their first mayoral positions in Hackney and Lewisham and gaining control of Waltham Forest council. Overall, the Greens tripled their number of local councillors to win a total of 587 seats in England as well as 15 seats in Scotland (up from 8).
Labour’s record
Labour have brought this electoral failure on themselves. Since winning the general election in July 2024, Starmer has used his large majority of MPs (elected on a record low vote share) to make a series of unpopular cuts to welfare and benefits in the face of a grinding cost-of-living crisis. Labour came to office promising change and almost immediately kicked 10 million pensioners off winter fuel benefits. It was only after sustained pressure from within the party that the government lifted the two-child benefit cap, a Tory policy that punished low-income parents for having more than two children. Starmer has also presided over major increases in defence spending and pandered to Trump. His support for Peter Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador given the Labour grandee’s ties to Epstein have made Starmer’s position increasingly untenable.
Before his departure in February, Starmer’s former chief of staff Morgan McSweeney purged supporters of left-wing former party leader Jeremy Corbyn and promoted right-wing candidates before the 2024 election. Within Number 10, McSweeney drove what Labour insiders described as a “squeeze strategy” that focused on appealing to Reform voters. Continuing that strategy in September last year, Labour appointed a more “hardline” Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, whose job was to introduce more restrictive and punitive immigration policies. Mahmood has already celebrated the deportation of 60,000 people since the party came to office and introduced new powers to physically restrain children during deportations.
Rise of Reform
Reform has risen from the ashes of the Conservative Party since its Brexit-induced self-immolation. Polling data show half of those who voted for the UK to leave the European Union in the 2016 referendum now support Reform. The party has used the post-Brexit era to deepen anti-immigration sentiment and built a base through the amplification of grievances and the idea of “broken Britain”. From pot holes to “ending woke”, Reform attempts to focus blame for any and all grievances on the vulnerable, particularly immigrants, deflecting anger away from the rich and powerful. As party leader, Nigel Farage has managed to build his popularity and anti-establishment image despite being bankrolled by billionaires, receiving millions in personal gifts, and being accused of holding pro-Nazi views in his youth. Reform has taken hold of a significant section of right-wing voters who want to believe that hanging a St Georges flag will restore the “glory” of the British Empire.
The Greens
After Zack Polanski's emphatic election as leader of the Green Party in September 2025, the party has grown rapidly in size and support. Membership has tripled from around 70,000 to more than 220,000 today. By contrast, Labour membership figures sank below 250,000 in December 2025. The Gorton and Denton by-election in February was won convincingly by Green candidate Hannah Spencer, a local plumber who campaigned under the slogan of “hope not hate” and explicitly appealed to progressive voters to vote Green not Labour to keep Reform out.
The Greens’ vote share in the most recent English elections was almost level with Labour (14 percent vs 15 percent) and demonstrates that the appetite for a left alternative is real. Your Party, a more left-wing alternative formed by former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and MP Zarah Sultana in 2025, did not contest the elections and has been plagued by in-fighting. Starmer’s desperate lurch back towards traditional Labourism, evident in his Hail Mary pledge to nationalise British Steel, indicates the extent to which Labour is conscious of how much ground it is losing to the left.
What now?
These election results have not only exposed the bankruptcy of Starmerism, but have also accelerated the splintering of the status quo of British politics. Reform is now established as the most popular party in British politics. The Greens are making significant gains, but Polanski already faces intense pressure to moderate, with rumours of internal party reviews set to tone down some of their more “radical” policies, including support for Palestine.
For the socialist left in the UK, the challenge of building a genuine working-class alternative to Labour and the Greens remains. There is certainly no end in sight to the economic immiseration of the majority; the challenge is to build a political alternative capable of ending it.
