U.K Prime Minister Keir Starmer has suffered a massive defeat as the British regional election results continue to be counted.  So far, Starmer’s Labour Party has lost 1,100 seats and Nigel Farage’s Reform Party has gained a whooping 1,229 seats.

The results continue to be tallied as many regions and local councils have a form of ranked choice voting.  However, despite the mounting electoral losses, Keir Starmer is refusing to step aside.

(VIA AP Newswire) – LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer insisted Friday that he will not resign after bruising elections that saw his governing Labour Party suffer big losses and the hard-right Reform UK make major gains.

The local and regional elections were widely seen as an unofficial referendum on Starmer, whose popularity has plummeted since he led the center-left Labour Party to power less than two years ago. […] Starmer said he took responsibility for the “very tough” results but would not quit.

“The voters have sent a message about the pace of change, how they want their lives improved,” he said. “I was elected to meet those challenges, and I’m not going to walk away from those challenges and plunge the country into chaos.”

Reform UK, led by the veteran nationalist politician Nigel Farage, won hundreds of local council seats in working-class areas in England’s north, such as Sunderland, that were solid Labour turf for decades, and also made gains from the Conservatives in areas like the county of Essex, east of London. Reform, which ran on an anti-establishment and anti-immigration message, did particularly well in areas that backed the U.K. to leave the European Union in the historic Brexit vote in 2016.

[…] Tony Travers, professor of government at the London School of Economics, said the elections show established parties struggling “to respond to populists on the left and right who appear to provide painless and simple solutions to intractable political and economic problems.” (read more)

The results will continue to be counted with more concrete outcomes likely on Saturday.

(VIA POLITICO UK) – It’s been an extraordinary day, which has seen a monumental shift in the political landscape across the country. Labour MPs are already calling on Keir Starmer to either go now or set a date — but not yet in huge numbers. That could change over the weekend.

Starmer’s party suffered a historic defeat in Wales, topped off with the loss of First Minister Eluned Morgan. Both Labour and the Conservatives have been reduced to single digits in the Welsh Senedd, while Nigel Farage’s Reform UK soared from a standing start to 34 seats, and Welsh nationalists Plaid Cymru emerged as the largest party with 43 seats, leaving them short of an overall majority.

Labour’s woes in England were huge. The party has lost 1,099 councillors so far, with heartlands falling to both Farage’s Reform UK, who have gained a whopping 1,229 seats, and the left-wing Green Party, who are currently up 289. (more)

History may not always repeat, but it often rhymes. 😂

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