Keir Starmer Braces for Local Election Setbacks as Reform Gains Ground

[Social Media]

 

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Keir Starmer Braces for Local Election Setbacks as Reform Gains Ground

 

Sir Keir Starmer has warned that Labour is heading into a “tough” series of local elections this Thursday, with Nigel Farage’s Reform Party posing a significant threat in Labour’s traditional northern strongholds. Polls suggest that Reform could overturn Labour’s 14,700 majority in the Runcorn & Helsby by-election, a contest triggered by the resignation of former MP Mike Amesbury following his conviction for assaulting a constituent.

 

 

Labour is also battling to hold off potential defeats to Reform in two key mayoral elections: the newly established Hull & East Yorkshire mayoralty and in Doncaster, where Labour’s mayor secured a 10,000-vote majority just four years ago. Meanwhile, the Conservatives are bracing for heavy losses of the 940 council seats they won in 2021, at the peak of Boris Johnson’s popularity.

 

 

The Liberal Democrats are optimistic about their chances in the south of England, aiming to seize dozens of seats from the Conservatives and possibly control more councils than Kemi Badenoch’s party by the end of the night. The Conservatives are additionally worried about losing the Lincolnshire mayoral race to Reform, a development that underscores the wider threat facing both major parties.

 

 

A senior Conservative strategist highlighted the deep frustration among the electorate, stating that the prevailing mood among voters was now “anyone but the Tories and Labour,” a stark contrast to the general election, when Labour achieved a landslide victory at the Conservatives' expense.

 

Acknowledging the difficult road ahead, Starmer said on Monday, “It’s going to be tough. Most governments after a general election face a tough set of local elections at the first opportunity afterwards, and of course we’ve had to take tough but right decisions.” He nevertheless insisted Labour had “a positive story to tell,” pointing to “record investment put into the NHS” and the increase in the minimum wage.

 

Starmer also went on the attack against Reform, accusing them of wanting to charge patients to use the NHS, voting against workers’ rights, and having a “pro-Putin foreign policy.” He added, “We’ve got a positive case to tell. It’ll be tight, I know that, every vote will count and we are fighting for every vote.”

 

Kemi Badenoch admitted the elections were also a major challenge for the Conservatives, especially amid criticisms over the party’s faltering campaign and lingering leadership speculation. There has been frustration within Conservative ranks, particularly as both Baroness Maclean of Redditch, the party’s head of strategy, and Lee Rowley, Badenoch’s chief of staff, were on holiday as polling day approached. Maclean returned from the Himalayas only this week. Justin Tomlinson, a former minister and MP for North Swindon, was appointed as campaign director for the local elections but faced criticism from activists for reportedly working only three days a week.

 

Defending his role, Tomlinson said he had been brought in as an “experienced campaigner” to provide “support and training” and to “share best practice.” He insisted, “That is exactly what I do.”

 

Appearing on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Badenoch urged voters to focus on local rather than national issues. “This is not a referendum on national issues, but local ones,” she said. “I’ve been travelling all around the country, and one of the councillors I was with, we were on a doorstep, and he showed a leaflet of Reform saying ‘we’re going to stop the boats’. That’s not what people are voting on on Thursday. We have said that we are going to tackle immigration, but this week’s elections are about who’s going to fix the roads, pick up the bins.”

 

Professor Sir John Curtice, a leading polling expert, said the elections would become a five-way battle, noting that Reform had fielded 1,640 candidates — more than any other party. Speaking on BBC’s Today programme, he said, “Reform are now at 25 per cent in the national opinion polls as opposed to the 15 per cent they got at the last election. So if they can emulate that kind of performance then it may well be that not only do Reform pick up votes but in contrast to the general election start to pick up [significant numbers] of seats.”

 

  Adpated by ASEAN Now from The Times  2025-04-30

 

 

[JonnyF]

2 hours ago, Social Media said:

Appearing on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Badenoch urged voters to focus on local rather than national issues. “This is not a referendum on national issues, but local ones,” she said.

 

I would argue it's the first opportunity for the British electorate to show Labour just how disgusted they are with them.

 

Great to See Luke Campbell involved with Reform by the way.

 

 

[Bruce1054]

Labour is dead in the water 💦 

[JonnyF]

5 minutes ago, Bruce1054 said:

Labour is dead in the water 💦 

 

Let's hope so. 

[Purdey]

The question is, can Farage be bothered to turn up? 

 

[JonnyF]

3 minutes ago, Purdey said:

The question is, can Farage be bothered to turn up? 

 

 

At least he wasn't asleep in Parliament like this purple haired Labour MP. 

 

[impulse]

Meanwhile, across the pond, a British reporter asks Leavitt if the US will entertain asylum claims from Brits subject to gross injustice for thought crimes:

 

“In Britain, we have had over a quarter of a million people issued non-crime hate incidents. As we speak, there are people in prison for quite literally reposting memes. We have extensive prison sentences for tweets, social media posts, and general free speech issues,” the founding member of folk rock group Mumford & Sons said.

 

“Would the Trump administration consider political asylum for British citizens in such a situation?” (Winston) Marshall asked.

 

“I have not heard that proposed to the president, nor have I spoken to him about that idea, but I certainly can talk to our national security team and see if it’s something the administration would entertain,” she told the podcast host.

 

[frank83628]

And if reform win the media will call all the voters racists 

[Watawattana]

1 hour ago, JonnyF said:

Appearing on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Badenoch urged voters to focus on local rather than national issues. “This is not a referendum on national issues, but local ones,” she said.

 

1 hour ago, JonnyF said:

I would argue it's the first opportunity for the British electorate to show Labour just how disgusted they are with them.

 

Agree.  Badenoch is right to make her point too; if this election was to be based on national issues it's possible that this might be a record low turnout as most voters will be either be disgusted by Labour (correctly) and will remember the appallingly poor recent Tory government (also obviously correct).  Either that or Reform will get a landslide or the independent candidates will do really well.

[JonnyF]

19 minutes ago, frank83628 said:

And if reform win the media will call all the voters racists 

 

I can just imagine the BBC's totally unbiased headline now.

 

"Far Right Scum support Fascist Farage". 😃

[jippytum]

The protest vote against Starmer will be strong. He has led the labour party from glory at the election to ignominy in record time. 

 Starmer's personal standing along with henchman Milliband is a reflectlon of labour's failure to address voters main concerns with illegal immigration foremost. 

[Stiddle Mump]

Fingers Xed this week.

[MarkT63]

There can't be many people in the UK still prepared to vote for this clown and his bunch of loons?? 🤣

[sungod]

2 hours ago, JonnyF said:

 

I would argue it's the first opportunity for the British electorate to show Labour just how disgusted they are with them.

 

Great to See Luke Campbell involved with Reform by the way.

 

 

 

I saw somewhere Ant Middleton was going for Mayor of London, tough battle that one as not many British people live in London anymore.

 

 

[BritManToo]

1 hour ago, frank83628 said:

And if reform win the media will call all the voters racists 

and stupid, and poorly educated ...........

 

Or they could just complain too many pensioners (missing their winter fuel payments) are being allowed to vote.

[actonion]

2 hours ago, Bruce1054 said:

Labour is dead in the water 💦 

if not,  lets make sure they are   this week

[BritManToo]

1 hour ago, Watawattana said:

Agree.  Badenoch is right to make her point too; if this election was to be based on national issues it's possible that this might be a record low turnout as most voters will be either be disgusted by Labour (correctly) and will remember the appallingly poor recent Tory government (also obviously correct).  Either that or Reform will get a landslide or the independent candidates will do really well.

Yeah, but she's not white and not male, so most of us wouldn't vote for her.

 

Odd fact

if you're white and won't vote for a non-white you're a racist.

but if you're a non-white and vote for another non-white, you're sound!

(obviously nobody is allowed to vote for a Jewish candidate)

[actonion]

28 minutes ago, MarkT63 said:

There can't be many people in the UK still prepared to vote for this clown and his bunch of loons?? 🤣

only the immigrants i think

[sungod]

32 minutes ago, sungod said:

 

I saw somewhere Ant Middleton was going for Mayor of London, tough battle that one as not many British people live in London anymore.

 

 

 

[JonnyF]

36 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

and stupid, and poorly educated ...........

 

Or they could just complain too many pensioners (missing their winter fuel payments) are being allowed to vote.

 

I can see it now as they ask to re-run the vote.

 

"They didn't know what they were voting for".

 

Or maybe...

 

"What does Reform really mean". 😃

[tmd5855]

2 hours ago, JonnyF said:

 

At least he wasn't asleep in Parliament like this purple haired Labour MP. 

 

 

Whenever I see garishly dressed, overweight, biker jacket wearing individuals with spectrum defying hair tint and nail varnish, quickly dial 999 for the fashion police to sort out a scene of "Public disquiet" 

[Jim Blue]

2 hours ago, JonnyF said:

 

At least he wasn't asleep in Parliament like this purple haired Labour MP. 

 

She got the punk rock vote. I didn't  know they still existed !

[JonnyF]

29 minutes ago, sungod said:

 

 

Yeah he's up against it. 

 

Anti white racism is on the rise in London.