The British electorate has delivered its verdict on two lamentable years of Labour rule. It was an emphatic finding of guilty against both the party and its hapless leader.
Guilty of failing to tackle illegal migration, to defend the realm, curb reckless public spending, make work pay, protect the rights of women, reform public services and tax people fairly.
Guilty of breaking endless manifesto promises, sending the economy into tailspin, allowing the welfare budget to balloon and forcing middle-earners, savers, private pensioners, farmers and businesses to foot the bill.
In this Government’s brief term of office, initiative and enterprise have been penalised, middle Britain has been fleeced and there has been a corrosive transfer of wealth from the industrious to the indolent. The public has had enough.
If there ever was such a thing as Starmerism, it is dead and Sir Keir himself is living on borrowed time. If he thinks he can weather the storm, he is deluding himself.
Across England, Wales and Scotland, Labour was utterly routed, raising existential questions over its future. The first of these is: Who does it now represent?
If these results are any guide, it is no longer the party of the working classes, who flocked to Reform UK in their legions. Even in their Northern heartlands, Labour councillors fell like so many collapsing dominoes.
London, once a red fortress, saw a similar outcome, albeit with a slightly different narrative.
Reform leader Nigel Farage pictured after speaking to supporters at Chelmsford City Racecourse, Essex, following the 2026 local election results
Here it was the Greens – attacking from the Left and garnering the Islamist vote – who were trying to steal Labour’s clothes.
Their main strategy was a shameless appeal to pro-Palestinian, anti-Zionist, often anti-Semitic sentiment within some Muslim communities. It was sectarian politics at its worst.
Thankfully, the predicted ‘Green revolution’ didn’t quite materialise. Partly owing to some searing investigative journalism by the Daily Mail, the public is beginning to see through its leader Zack Polanski’s slick snake-oil sales patter to the charlatan beneath.
The Greens did, though, inflict pain on Labour in several of its London strongholds. Some of the sheen may be coming off, but Polanski remains a significant and malign force in our body politic.
The Tories had eye-catching results in Westminster and Wandsworth, a reflection of Kemi Badenoch’s rising popularity and stature as a leader. From difficult beginnings, she has grown into a thoughtful and confident leader who promises to be her party’s biggest asset come the general election.
But there was no reason for gloating. By early yesterday evening, the Conservatives lost 472 council seats and control of six authorities, as the voters roundly rejected the established two-party system.
Between them, Labour and Conservative were projected to register around 35 per cent of the vote – a historic low and a vivid demonstration of the public’s anger at our governing class. They are crying out for real change and see a political establishment which is not listening.
This has led to a fracturing of old duopoly into a five-party system – seven with the nationalist parties of Scotland and Wales. The landscape is changing in the most dramatic fashion.
And so, to the main story of Thursday’s results – the triumph of Nigel Farage. In the Northern Red Wall, the Midlands, coastal communities and large parts of the South, this remarkable politician and Reform swept all before him.
He even parked his tanks on Labour leadership contender Angela Rayner’s lawn, wiping out her Labour power base in Tameside, Manchester.
It was a tremendous vindication of Mr Farage’s persistence and courage under intense and relentless political fire from all sides.
Any doubts that he could transform his party from one of protest to one with a genuine chance of winning a general election have been laid to rest.
Yet while these were undoubtedly stellar results, he needs to treat them as a beginning rather than an end. The work of convincing the electorate he can be an effective prime minister starts here.
He remains a divisive figure. Though admired by many, he is loathed by die-hard Remainers and Metropolitan liberals for his championing of Brexit. That will play against him in a national poll.
His chances would be hugely boosted if he could, in the next three years, come to an arrangement with the Tories to unite the Right against the gruesome prospect of a chaotic Left-wing coalition of Labour, Greens, Lib Dems and nationalist parties.
That is the real threat to this country and must be fought off at all costs.
So, what now for Sir Keir? In the final act of Macbeth, with all his allies gone and Macduff’s forces closing in on Dunsinane, the eponymous anti-hero stubbornly refuses to admit defeat.
‘Why should I play the Roman fool and die on mine own sword,’ he says, pledging to fight on. It doesn’t end well.
Sir Keir appears to be in a similar sense of denial. He says he has no intention of resigning but, with the pretenders circling, if he doesn’t go voluntarily, he will eventually be pushed. The only question is when – and more frighteningly, what comes next.
