Local election in numbers: Inside Reform’s back-to-back record results and Labour’s disastrous collapse
The 2026 local election results have been announced, adding a historic slate of results to the UK’s political landscape.
It was a disastrous night for Labor, which suffered one of its worst ever election performances in England, Scotland and Wales.
With most of the results in, Sir Keir Starmer’s party has lost almost half of the councils it defended by entering contests, breaking the record it set in the last round of local elections just a year ago.
In stark contrast, Reform UK was once again the big winner of the night, securing 1,431 seats after entering the competition having only had to defend three.
Nigel Farage’s party has built on its success last year to record back-to-back victories. Reformation won 677 council seats in 2025, nearly double that in this week’s contest.
The extent of Labour’s losses, which defended nearly 2,000 more seats in this year’s election and despite a drop in popularity polls, was perhaps inevitable. These were concentrated mainly in metropolitan areas, including the whole of London, where Labor’s base has historically been much stronger.
This scenario saw Labor and the Conservatives switch places somewhat compared to last year, while the official opposition party still suffered significant but more modest losses compared to last year.
The Green party also benefited from declining support for the ‘big two’ political parties, recruiting hundreds of new councillors, particularly focused in the capital and other metropolitan areas.
Ed Davey’s Liberal Democrats, meanwhile, are likely to be pleased with their result, gaining 143 councillors.
Worker loses control
At council level, Labour’s disastrous results meant the party lost control of 36 local authorities across the UK, dropping the nationwide total to 28.
In most cases, Labor often remained the largest party, although these councils did not have overall control. But this survival was due to mathematics rather than current popularity; With most councils only elected by a third, Labor was often unable to lose enough seats to lose its foundation.
The reform has brought together 14 councils across England, including Havering, Newcastle-under-Lyme and Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch’s home town of Essex. This takes Mr Farage’s party’s numbers to a total of 24 in 2026, none of which he controlled before May 2025.
The Greens also made four relatively significant gains, taking control of London’s Hackney, Waltham Forest and Norwich and Hastings.
The influence of these emerging ‘alternative’ parties can best be understood by their gains in Labour’s traditional heartlands such as Manchester, Birmingham and London.
Labour’s vote share in the capital dropped 11 points from 2022 to an estimated 32 per cent, while the Conservatives’ vote fell from 26 to 22. Meanwhile, the Greens’ votes increased by 10 points to 18 percent, and the Reform votes increased from 1 to 9 percent.
In Birmingham, Reform’s share rose to 25, Labor’s share fell to 28, rising to 23, and the Greens’ share rose to 10.
In Manchester, the Greens rose to 37 (up 20), Labor to 31 (down 22) and Reform to 18 (up 17).
Vote sharing is the new five-party norm
Experts said these election results reflected a wider trend for British politics to become more fragmented, pushing the country into “unprecedented territory”.
Many councils, including Peterborough, Dudley and West Oxfordshire, are now split into five or more parties, which can make it difficult for council leaders to set a direction.
In March, expert pollster Sir John Curtice warned: “We’ve never had five-party politics before. We’re in unprecedented territory and none of us know exactly where this will lead.”
Labor Party suffered in Scotland Scottish National Party benefits from split vote. As reform made gains largely at the expense of the Conservatives, Labor failed to turn discontent with the SNP into gains.
Labour’s collapse in the Senedd seemed all the more existential as it was the first time it had lost power since the Welsh parliament was formed in 1999. The party’s vote share fell by more than half, enough to push it into third place; Plaid Cymru became the largest party and Reform came second.
It is unclear whether Sir Keir can survive these blows at the ballot box and lead Labor into the next general election. Calls for resignation grow One MP has already said he will present a leadership challenge if no one in the cabinet does so.
