Local elections 2026 outcomes: Everything you missed in a single day as Keir Starmer suffers enormous blows
Keir Starmer has suffered a disappointing night with Labour losing hundreds of councillors already across local elections in England – use our searchable widget to check results
Keir Starmer has suffered a disappointing night as results were declared in councils across England(Image: Ben Whitley/PA Wire)
Keir Starmer has suffered a disappointing night with Labour losing hundreds of councillors already across local elections in England.
Nigel Farage’s party emerged as the clear winner overnight, picking up more than 300 seats overnight. Labour has lot more than 200 as it bleeds votes both to the left and the right of the political spectrum.
Labour started to lose dozens of councillors from around 1am. Reform UK picked up its first significant gains in Halton in Labour’s northern heartlands, where 16 new councillors were elected.
The picture continued to get worse for Mr Starmer thereafter. At around 2am, Labour lost its first council – Redditch Borough Council – shortly followed by Hartlepool and Tamworth, with Reform UK making significant gains across the three areas.
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READ MORE: Local elections 2026 – live: ‘Tough night’ for Labour who warn Reform’s ‘false promises won’t deliver change’READ MORE: Local elections 2025 results map – Full council results across England
From then onwards, it only continued to get more miserable. Labour lost more than 20 councillors in Wigan – Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy’s patch.
And at around 4am, Labour lost control of Exeter council, where the Greens made gains. Losing power in Tameside – Angela Rayner’s area – was another painful result to Labour, with Reform sweeping up and gaining 18 councillors.
Mr Starmer’s party is facing a key battle with the Green Party in London, which has long been considered a Labour stronghold. If Wandsworth’s result overnight – where Labour lost control – is anything to go by, Labour could be facing troubling set of results.
Pollster Luke Tryl, a director at More in Common, said Labour’s losses to both Reform and the Green Party is a “nightmare” for the party. He told The Mirror: “It’s their nightmare scenario as it leaves no clear direction to go.”
Sir John Curtice said Labour might lose fewer than the dire predictions of 1,500 losses overall – but warned there’s a “long way to go”.
He said the party’s night is potentially a “little bit worse” than expected, admitting Scotland could be a further blow later today.
The top polling expert told the BBC: “At nearly 4:00 in the morning, the picture from England has been as pretty much as bad as anybody expected for Labour, if not a little bit worse. Coming third in Scotland would clearly add to Labour’s woes and the pressure on 10 Downing Street.”
The Greens made small gains overnight, picking up councillors across the country, including in Chorley, Salford and Exeter.
But the party is expecting much more success later on Friday, where key Green target areas will declare their results. Party sources said they are hopeful for “modest gains” in Exeter and Oxford. And all eyes will be on the race for Hackney Mayor, which would be a significant gain for the Greens.
The Liberal Democrats – who have described its local success as the “tortoise and the hare” – also had some successes overnight, gaining control of Stockport and Portsmouth councils. Though the party also lost control in Hull.
Crunch declarations in Wales and Scotland are not due until later this afternoon. The Scottish National Party is expected to hold on in Scotland despite their almost 20 years in power being marred by failure and scandal. Reform UK is also expected to make landmark gains north of the border.
Labour is expected to suffer devastating losses in Wales, where it has been in power since the country was devolved in 1999. Overnight, Trade minister Sir Chris Bryant – who is Labour MP for Rhondda and Ogmore in Wales – admitted it’s not likely to be a good night for his party in Wales.
He told the BBC: “I’ve been knocking doors and my local team have been knocking doors for weeks and weeks and weeks. I think it will be very difficult for us to hold the place that we’ve held.”
