Labour’s poor showing in recent elections has intensified criticism of Starmer. The party lost ground in England’s local polls, while in Wales, Eluned Morgan’s Labour government was voted out after decades in power. In Scotland, John Swinney led the Scottish National Party to a fifth consecutive victory.

Opinion polls before the election suggested that the right-wing anti-immigration Reform U.K. party and the center-left Plaid Cymru would battle for the top spot in Wales.

Labour is expected to lose the Senedd election, multiple party sources have told the BBC, ending its 27-year-long rule in Wales. Both Plaid Cymru and Reform UK are confident of replacing them as the biggest party, and had pitched the election as a two-horse race.

In Hull, Labour lost eight seats, with group leader Daren Hale saying the result was down to a "failure of national leadership". Hale told the BBC: "What we were getting on every doorstep... was not about the Labour Party per se - certainly not about local councillors - it was about the leadership of the Labour Party."

One U.K. lawmaker says big election losses for the ruling Labour Party and its main rivals show the de-facto two-party system is "not just dying, it is dead."

POLLS have opened across the country in the 2026 local elections – with Labour bracing for huge losses. With a staggering 1,850 Labour council seats at risk, key battles are expected in

Plaid Cymru becomes the biggest party in the Welsh Parliament, ending Labour's century long election winning streak in Wales.

Reform makes gains in Labour’s working-class heartlands, while Greens chip away at party’s progressive base