Sir Keir Starmer’s future hangs in the balance as millions of voters head to the polls for local elections

Keir Starmer’s political future is at stake today in a historic local election round.

Millions of voters in England, Scotland and Wales will go to the polls in what opposition leaders are branding a referendum on the Prime Minister’s record.

His Labor rivals stand on the sidelines, ready to attack if predictions of a nationwide meltdown become reality. The elections threaten to shake the foundations of Britain’s two-party system; Voters are set to take out their anger at Labor and the Conservatives by supporting Reform UK and the Greens in large numbers.

Kemi Badenoch said today’s vote would show ‘what multi-party politics looks like’ but warned voters staying away from her Tory party were gambling by appointing untested politicians to run essential services.

‘We moved from the two-party era to the multi-party era,’ he said. ‘But the truth is that none of these new parties or Labor have a plan for the country. What is surprising is that the Labor government that came to power in a landslide less than two years ago is no longer so popular. They thought it was easy to manage. Not.”

Polls suggest Labor could suffer its worst ever round of local elections in England, losing more than 1,500 council seats and struggling to come third in Scotland and Wales.

Nigel Farage predicted last night that Reform UK would make huge gains against Labor and the Conservatives.

Speaking at a campaign rally in St Helens, Merseyside, he said Labor would be ‘destroyed’ in the Red Wall areas of the North and Midlands and that the Conservatives would ‘no longer be a national party’.

Kemi Badenoch (photo taken 6 May 2026) said today’s vote will show ‘what multi-party politics looks like’

‘The results of this vote will be historic,’ he said. ‘They will face pressure in Labour’s traditional heartlands the likes of which have not been seen in more than a century.’

As the Greens prepare to penetrate Labor strongholds in London and the inner cities, and nationalist parties are expected to do well in Wales and Scotland, a Labor insider admitted the party was in danger of ‘losing to everyone, everywhere’.

Downing Street is bracing for a potential challenge to the Prime Minister’s leadership just hours after the polls close tonight, with a Cabinet minister last night pushing for Manchester mayor Andy Burnham to return to Westminster. The prime minister’s allies insist he will not back down and are already preparing for a fight.

But senior Labor figures have warned that his local election campaign has hardened views against him and left him open to criticism from voters.

A Redwall Labor MP told the Mail: ‘Locally we will lose every seat to Reform. Good councilors will lose their seats and much of that will fall on the Prime Minister.

‘The reaction to him personally on the doorstep is very harsh; people hate him. It is obvious that it will not lead us to another election. It is popularly known as radioactive; This is unsustainable.’

Welsh Labor leader Eluned Morgan warned yesterday that there was a danger that the Prime Minister’s unpopularity could cause the party to lose power in the country. It has emerged as the largest party in Wales at every election since 1922.

Ms Morgan acknowledged Sir Keir had ’emerged as a problem on the doorstep’ and asked voters to focus on Welsh issues rather than ‘fighting’ with the Prime Minister.

Sir Keir ran a low-key campaign and made only a few controlled visits. Yesterday he manned a phone bank at Labor Party Headquarters rather than knocking on doors where he could face angry voters.

On the eve of his election message, the Prime Minister urged voters to “choose unity over division”, saying Mr Farage and Green Party leader Zack Polanski had shown they were “unfit to meet this moment of great global instability”.

Former Deputy Chancellor Angela Rayner and Health Secretary Wes Streeting are said to be considering a leadership challenge if the results of today’s vote are worse than expected.

Nigel Farage (photo taken 6 May 2026) last night predicted Reform UK would make big gains against Labor and Conservatives

The Greens are poised to advance in Labor strongholds in London and inner cities (Image: Zack Polanski, 9 April 2026)

Downing Street is also determined to resist any attempt to allow Mr Burnham to return to Westminster, where he could mount a leadership challenge.

The Mail revealed yesterday that preparations are being made for a North West Labor MP to stand aside as soon as next week to pave the way for the mayor of Greater Manchester to return to parliament.

Many cabinet ministers are ready to tell Sir Keir that the price of their support is a guarantee that Mr Burnham will not be prevented from standing again.

Sir Keir last night wrote to all civil servants in a bid to build bridges after sacking former Foreign Office chief Sir Olly Robbins over the Peter Mandelson scandal. He insisted he valued officials who ‘speak truth to power’.

A poll by YouGov in Wales suggested Labor would come in third with 12 per cent of the vote, well behind Plaid Cymru on 33 votes and Reform on 29 votes.

A similar poll in Scotland suggested the SNP would likely be short of a majority, with Labor in third place behind the Reform.

Labor focused its latest campaign on London, where inner-city strongholds appear vulnerable to the rise of the Greens. Campaigners last night hoped the Greens’ performance could be marred by controversy over Mr Polanski, who questioned the force used by police in detaining a man who stabbed two Jews in Golders Green last week.