According to one bookmaker’s, May 7’s local elections will be a day of grim setbacks for Keir Starmer’s Labour Party as Reform UK look set to surge ahead
Bookies are backing Reform UK to emphatically ‘win’ May 7’s local elections, with Nigel Farage’s party 11/10 favourites to secure the most seats.
According to Odd’s Checker, 55% of bets placed through their website this week fancied Reform to win the most seats – way ahead of Keir Starmer’s Labour Party with 15%. Only 1% of the betting company’s punters backed Your Party, Liberal Democrats and Workers’ Party of Britain to win the most seats.
The Conservatives fared little better with 8%, while Zack Polanski’s Green Party was supported by 13%. Reform’s slightly more right wing little brother Restore Britain – although only backed by 6% to win the most seats – were depicted favourably by Odds Checker, with odds of 9/1 this week an improvement from their previous of 11/1 the week before.
Keir Starmer will this week launch an 11th-hour bid to convince voters he is on their side as he refuses to give up the fight ahead of a tough set of local elections results.
The Prime Minister will on Monday travel to Armenia where he will be “fighting for our national interest on the world stage” amid the wars in Ukraine and Iran.
Downing Street sources said the PM will make the case “strongly” to Brits both before and after Thursday’s crunch polling day that he is solely focused on “outcomes for people here at home”.
Labour is braced for catastrophic results, with some analysts forecasting over 1,800 seats could be wiped out at elections across parts of England and the devolved administrations in Wales and Scotland.
The hours and days following are unpredictable with potential scenarios including leadership challenges against the PM or a Cabinet reshuffle. MPs over the weekend cautioned against removing Rachel Reeves from her position amid the fallout of the Iran war and the impact switching chancellors could have on the markets..
Mr Starmer over the weekend urged Labour MPs against repeating the “political infighting” that dogged the Conservative party for years. Cabinet minister Heidi Alexander likewise warned colleagues harbouring leadership aspirations not to transform Labour into a “self-indulgent debating society” that cycles through leaders.