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<\/a>\n\t\tBritain\u2019s Reform Party leader Nigel Farage shows his socks as he arrives at a polling station in Walton on the Naze, England, May 7, 2026 to cast his vote in the local elections.(AP Photo\/Richard Pelham)<\/p>\n
The main beneficiary was the populist Reform UK party of Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage, which gained more than 400 council seats in England, and could form the main opposition in Scotland and Wales to the pro-independence Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru in results later on Friday.<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\tBy signing up, you agree to the terms<\/a><\/p>\n Across the UK, Labour lost votes to Reform UK on its right, and also to the Green Party, whose popularity has risen under self-described \u201ceco populist\u201d leader Zack Polanski.<\/p>\n \t Polanski has made anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian issues a centerpiece of his party\u2019s platform, and he and many of his party\u2019s candidates are also alleged to have engaged in antisemitism.<\/p>\n The Greens hoped to win hundreds of council seats in urban centers and university towns, and took the mayoralty of traditionally Labour-supporting Hackney in east London. Hackney Council is responsible for Stamford Hill, home to tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews.<\/p>\n Speaking outside the vote count, the Jewish, anti-Israel Polanski hailed the \u201chistoric victory\u201d and declared \u201ctwo-party politics is no longer dying; it is dead and buried.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMy message to Keir Starmer is that he needs to go. But I don\u2019t think that\u2019s my message; I think that\u2019s the country message,\u201d said Polanski. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen for a long time now his popularity has been going, and he\u2019s lost for the trust of the country.\u201d<\/p>\n Related: UK Greens engulfed in antisemitism scandals as Jewish leader Polanski targets historic local election gains<\/a><\/p>\n Councillor Zo\u00eb Garbett, who will now serve as Hackney\u2019s mayor, reportedly<\/a> blocked a letter praising London\u2019s Metropolitan Police for their response to the antisemitic terror attack in Golders Green last month.<\/p>\n \t British media have reported<\/a> that the issue of the war in Gaza was high on the agenda for voters in Hackney. Garbett said last week that voters in Hackney, where Labour had been the biggest party on the council since the 1970s, were dissatisfied with Labour for a range \u200cof reasons, \u2060from local housing issues to their stance on the Gaza war.<\/p>\n Farage hails shift<\/p>\n Anti-immigrant Reform UK, led by the veteran nationalist politician Farage, won hundreds of local council seats in working-class areas in England\u2019s north, such as Hartlepool, that once were solid Labour turf, and also made gains from the Conservatives in areas like Havering on the eastern edge of London.<\/p>\n Farage said the local election results had demonstrated a \u201ctruly historic shift in British politics\u201d and they were now \u201cthe most national of all the parties. We are here to stay.\u201d<\/p>\n Farage, 61, and his populist party have long been accused of flirting with racism, something which both have denied. Former classmates have alleged that Farage made a Nazi salute, joked about gas chambers and said, \u201cHitler was right,\u201d among other expressions of support for Nazism.<\/p>\n Related: Far-right UK lawmaker Nigel Farage denies saying \u2018Hitler was right\u2019 as a schoolboy<\/a><\/p>\n Starmer says won\u2019t walk away<\/p>\n With about a quarter of the votes counted on Friday morning, Starmer said he took responsibility for the \u201cvery tough\u201d results but would not quit.<\/p>\n \u201cThe voters have sent a message about the pace of change, how they want their lives improved,\u201d he said. \u201cI was elected to meet those challenges, and I\u2019m not going to walk away from those challenges and plunge the country into chaos.\u201d<\/p>\n Labour was also braced for humiliating results in voting for the devolved parliaments in Scotland and Wales due to be announced later in the day.<\/p>\n \t The party also looked set for more losses in London as the Greens pick up disaffected left-wingers in urban areas with an anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian message.<\/p>\n \u201cThe results are tough, they are very tough, and there\u2019s no sugarcoating it,\u201d Starmer said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have lost brilliant Labour representatives across the country; these are people who put so much into their communities, so much into our party.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd that hurts, and it should hurt, and I take responsibility,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n \t The ballot is the biggest electoral test for the beleaguered Starmer since Labour ousted the Conservatives following 14 years in power in a landslide election victory less than two years ago.<\/p>\n Big losses for Labour could amplify calls for Starmer, 63, to resign or face a long-rumored party leadership challenge.<\/p>\n He insisted Friday that \u201cdays like this don\u2019t weaken my resolve to deliver the change that I promised.\u201d<\/p>\n Before polls closed on Thursday night, The Times reported that Energy Secretary and former Labour leader Ed Miliband had privately urged Starmer to set out a timetable to step down after the elections.<\/p>\n Britain\u2019s media is full of rumors that ex-deputy prime minister Angela Rayner or Health Secretary Wes Streeting could try to oust Starmer after the results.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n\t\tGreen Party leader Zack Polanski (right) celebrates with the Greens\u2019 Zoe Garbett after she was declared the winner in the 2026 London Borough of Hackney mayoral election at Hackney Service Centre, east London, May 8, 2026. (Reuters via PA)<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n\t\tForensic officers search the area after two people were stabbed in north London\u2019s Golders Green neighborhood on April 29, 2026. (AP Photo\/Kin Cheung)<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n\t\tBritain\u2019s Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer meets Labour Party members at Kingsdown Methodist Church Hall, in Ealing, west London, May 8, 2026, a day after the local elections. (Stefan Rousseau\/PA via AP)<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n\t\tBritain\u2019s Prime Minister Keir Starmer and wife Victoria leave a polling station in central London, May 7, 2026, after casting their votes in the local elections. (AP Photo\/Kirsty Wigglesworth)<\/p>\n