British Prime Minister Keir Starmer vowed on Friday to stay in office to “deliver change” after his Labor Party suffered major defeats in local elections, deepening doubts about his ability to govern.
Just under two years after winning a national election in a landslide, Starmer saw voters punish his Labor government, dealing it a blow in some of its traditional strongholds in former industrial regions in central and northern England.
The main beneficiary was Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage’s populist Reform UK party, which won 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 due later on Friday.
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The early results highlighted the fracture in the UK’s traditional two-party system, with the once-dominant Labor and Conservative parties losing votes not only to Reform, but also to the left-wing Green Party at the other end of the political spectrum, and to the nationalists in Scotland and Wales.
Despite the defeats, Starmer’s allies have signaled their support for a man whose popularity ratings are among the worst of any British leader.
“I’m not going to walk away,” he told reporters in Ealing, west London, a rare bright spot where Labor maintained control of the council.
In what appeared to be a nod to the latest government shake-up, Starmer said he would redouble efforts to tackle a cost-of-living crisis worsened by conflicts in Ukraine and Iran.
