UK Election Results Suggest Ruling Labour Party Has Lost Public Confidence
© AP Photo / Stephanie Lecocq
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Some votes are still being counted in England, but one thing is already clear: Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour Party has taken a major hit.
What’s known so far?
About 5,000 seats in municipal councils across 136 areas were up for election in England on May 7
In Scotland and Wales, 129 and 96 parliamentary seats, respectively, were contested on the same day
This has been the biggest set of elections since 2024 and is widely seen as a test of Starmer’s premiership
England
Reform UK, the conservative populist party led by Nigel Farage, is seen as the biggest winner of the elections
It has so far won 1,422 seats, according to Sky News
Labour is second with 980, while the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives are third and fourth, with 834 and 754 seats, respectively.
Wales
Plaid Cymru, a centre-left party committed to Welsh independence, has become the largest party in the Welsh Senedd with 43 seats
Reform UK is second with 34, while Labour is a distant third with 9
Labour has already admitted defeat after being in power in Wales for 27 years
Scotland
The Scottish National Party (SNP) won the most seats in the Scottish Parliament with 58, falling short of a majority of 65
Labour and Reform UK are tied on 17 seats, while the Conservatives fell to 12
Starmer refuses to step down
Despite devastating results for his party, Starmer said he was “not going to walk away and plunge the country into chaos”
Some politicians, including former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell and Labour MP for Hartlepool Jonathan Brash, suggested Starmer should consider stepping down
