A Reform UK Councillor has delivered a hilarious – and relatable – put down against the Labour party, on the night Starmer’s party faces the nightmare of a local election meltdown.
Shortly after retaining his own St Martin’s seat for Reform — narrowly beating Labour’s candidate — Cllr Sam Journet was asked how confident he was that Reform would sweep all 14 seats on the Essex council.
“If I’m not returning 14 out of 14 seats for Reform UK tonight, then I’ve done a bad job,” he said.
When pressed further, he quipped: “The only things we can be sure about in life is death, taxes and Labour ruining our lives.”
Across Britain, the 7 May local elections are shaping up as a bloodbath for Labour, with more than 20 seats already transferring from Sir Keir Starmer‘s party to Reform UK — and Conservative seats also falling to Nigel Farage‘s party.
Reform UK has swept all 12 seats in Hartlepool, ending Labour’s control of the council. Labour had been defending six seats with a slim majority and is now set to become the opposition.
The town’s Labour MP Jonathan Brash watched his wife Pamela Hargreaves — leader of Hartlepool council — lose her seat. He called on Sir Keir Starmer to act immediately.
He said: “I think the very best thing the prime minister could do now is address the nation tomorrow and set out a timetable for his departure. We can then have an orderly transition, one that, by the way, ensures the full breadth of talent within the Labour party is able to stand, should it want to.”
Reform is also making gains in Wigan, taking six of the first seven seats declared, with an independent claiming the other. Labour’s overall control of the council is not yet threatened — it held 62 of 75 seats going into the night with only 25 being contested.
There was a rare moment of relief for Labour at the Salford City Council count, where the party held the Eccles ward with 1,663 votes to Reform’s 1,207, prompting hugs and cheers among activists, the Press Association reported.
But Labour has lost control of Tamworth after Reform gained nine seats, leaving the council with no overall majority. In Hart, Reform took just one seat from the Conservatives, leaving the Liberal Democrats as the largest party under no overall control.
What did Nigel Farage say about the local election results?
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage celebrated the early returns at his party’s Millbank headquarters, declaring British politics had been permanently transformed.
He said: “I think what you’re witnessing is an historic change in British politics. Forget left-right, there is no more left-right. It is gone, it is out of the window, it’s finished.
“As you can see, we are scoring stunning percentages in traditional old Labour areas. We’re currently averaging about 39% of the vote, of the seats that are in already, we’re currently on 145 seats won. We are way exceeding anything that I thought.”