Kemi Badenoch has apologised for the local elections “bloodbath” as Nigel Farage has gloated the Tories are “finished”.
All 23 councils have now been announced, with Reform UK winning 10, the Liberal Democrats three, and another 10 now under no overall control – while Reform’s Sarah Pochin also dramatically beat Labour in a by-election for Runcorn and Helsby by six votes, overcoming a majority of more than 14,000 a year ago. And Mr Farage’s party also won two mayoral elections.
Writing in the Telegraph, the Conservative leader admitted predictions the local elections were going to be a “bloodbath” for her party had been correct, as she said: “I’m deeply sorry to see so many capable, hard-working Conservative councillors lose their seats.”
Speaking of the Tories, Mr Farage told new councillors in Staffordshire: “They are over, they are finished, they have literally been gutted in these counties, it is a position from which they will never, ever recover.”
Reform won in Lincolnshire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Lancashire, Kent, North Northamptonshire, West Northamptonshire and Nottinghamshire councils, which were all previously Tory-run. It took control of Durham and Doncaster councils, where Labour was previously the biggest party.
Across the local councils the BBC reports that Reform has gained 677 councillors, the Lib Dems 163 and the Greens 45. The Conservatives have lost 676, Labour 186.
Labour MP Rachael Maskell has urged her party to scrap winter fuel and welfare policies that she said are pushing voters away.
The York Central MP told BBC Breakfast that Labour has “special responsibilities” to serve the needs of people.
She said: “We’re not any other political party, we were created to serve the needs of people across working areas of our country so that people had a real voice of the kind of change that they wanted to see.
“I think it’s now time, if Labour are going to go further faster, to pick up that voice, to put our fingers on the pulse and to understand that that responsibility that the 1945 government set out putting that safety net in place at the welfare state is on our watch and is our responsibility.
“So, scrapping these proposals to push disabled people into hardship is an absolutely crucial part of that change, showing that we’re going to be listening to the country and protecting the people at their time of need.
“Of course we want to get more people into work. Of course the changes to the health system is really crucial … but also we’ve got to help people and care for people as we go on that journey.”
She added: “People went cold last winter and that’s not what a Labour government should be doing.
“We have got that mandate, I believe, as a party to look at how we can better redistribute wealth, as opposed to taking out of the pockets of the poorest.”
A Labour MP has suggested that voters shunned her party in local elections because it has failed to live up to the values the public expects from a Labour government.
York Central MP Rachael Maskell said Labour needs to be driven by “a framework of values, which is about protecting people, helping people to move forward in their lives and ensuring you’ve got those public services ready and working so that people can have that support when they need it”.
“That is what Labour governments do,” she told BBC Breakfast.
“I believe that when Labour does not meet that sweet spot, that expectation that people have of a Labour government, then they start to look in less favourable places for where that help comes from.
“Yesterday, many people were searching for that response, to find that protection, to get that support.
“But, sadly, if Labour were not offering that, they would look in other places.
“That’s why Labour have got to learn from the results yesterday and ensure that we do meet the needs of people in this country in very, very trying times.”
Reform UK will find out there are “no simple answers” to local public finances and have to make “difficult choices” after the party surged in local elections, a senior Tory MP has said.
Richard Fuller, shadow chief treasury secretary, said it was now up to Nigel Farage’s party to see if they can deliver in the areas where they have won council seats and mayoral polls.
He told GB News: “We have to acknowledge Reform did very well yesterday.
“They won the Runcorn by-election off Labour. They’ve won some mayoralties and now they will get the chance to show what they can actually do when they give them power.
“So, no longer pointing at problems, but actually there to try and find solutions, albeit on a local level, to help the people in Lincolnshire or Hull, where they have taken over the mayoralties.
“And other areas where they have taken control of the council.
“They’ll find out, Reform will find out, I think, that there are no simple answers locally to public finances at local government level, they’ll have to make some difficult choices and the local public will … hold them to account for the decisions they make.”
Sir Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch face pressure to reverse their parties’ fortunes after the local elections saw Reform UK make major gains across England.
Nigel Farage hailed the results as “the end of two-party politics” and “the death of the Conservative Party” as Reform picked up 10 councils and more than 600 seats in Thursday’s poll.
Conservative figures sought to deny that the results were “existential” for the party.
But, squeezed between Reform and the Liberal Democrats, the Tories lost more than 600 councillors and all 15 of the councils it controlled going into the election, among the worst results in the party’s history.
Mrs Badenoch herself apologised to the defeated Conservative councillors, adding: “I am going to make sure that we get ourselves back to the place where we are seen as the credible alternative to Labour.”
Meanwhile, several Labour figures called on the Prime Minister to change course after Reform won the Runcorn and Helsby by-election by six votes and took control of the previously Labour-run Doncaster Council.
Backbench MP Emma Lewell, who has represented South Shields since 2013, said it was “tone deaf to keep repeating we will move further and faster on our plan for change.
“What is needed is a change of plan.”
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