JASON GROVES: Reform is extending its reach while Labour loses votes to everyone
by Jason Groves, Political Editor
Labour have taken a battering at the hands of Nigel Farage in a mega round of local elections that will seal Keir Starmer’s fate.
Overnight results point to stunning gains for Reform UK in what was once Labour’s Red Wall.
In Hartlepool, Labour lost every seat to Reform. The local Labour MP, whose wife was among the defeated candidates, made the first of what will be many calls for Keir Starmer to resign.
The psychological blow is hard to overstate.
In Angela Rayner’s backyard, in Tameside, Labour lost all but one seat to Reform. Fellow cabinet minister Lisa Nandy saw Labour lose every seat to Mr Farage’s party in Wigan.
These are areas that stayed Labour even in the great Brexit election of 2019 when Boris Johnson made sweeping inroads into the party’s heartlands.
Labour have already thrown in the towel in Wales, where they had seemingly ruled forever, and there is no prospect of the hoped-for revival in Scotland.
The results also underline the fracturing of the UK’s two-party system. Labour is losing votes to everyone, everywhere.
