Same with Birmingham lol

6 hours ago, Rooney said:

I dunno about that one. The top level data at the moment seems to be linked to Brexit where the Tory voters are shifting to Reform and only a small minority of Labour voters are shifting to Reform (10-15%). Where Green is doing well, its meaning Reform are picking up seats.

People want Labour to do a 360 spin on everything which would be an absolute disaster. I agree whatever they do on some issues they can never outflank Reform.

We’re in a period of populism (from the left and right) and quick fixes and people who want change. Unfortunately, you can’t have change without breaking the system. And if you break the system, more people will lose out than gain.

Unfort I think youre again not understanding why people hate Labour and conservative blaming the left wing boogie man as usual when perhaps they aren’t left wing they are where the people are and those are the changes people are demanding. If this was Corbyn in 2020 losing youd say ‘he’s too left wing’ as the reason for defeat. Now they are losing hugely as centrists it’s the left wing Greens which is the reason why peolle don’t vote Labour. You. Can’t have it both ways. Maybe it’s centrism that’s actually at fault for their defeat and trying to be too much like the tories who are moving further to the right themselves.

Fact is if Starmer and Badenoch remain as leaders of the two main parties then that will be the reason Nigel Farage is PM into the 2030s.

Edited May 8May 8 by Steve201

19 hours ago, Henessy Lake said:

Well the people who voted reform will see the mistake they've made soon enough

Well ironic that seeing as we're seeing the mistake we made electing Starmer.

Big Brother 3's Alex Sibley wins a Reform seat for Emerson Park, in Havering, West London

https://metro.co.uk/2026/05/08/big-brother-star-alex-sibley-wins-seat-reform-local-elections-28284480/

Edited May 9May 9 by Mark

14 hours ago, Steve201 said:

Unfort I think youre again not understanding why people hate Labour and conservative blaming the left wing boogie man as usual when perhaps they aren’t left wing they are where the people are and those are the changes people are demanding. If this was Corbyn in 2020 losing youd say ‘he’s too left wing’ as the reason for defeat. Now they are losing hugely as centrists it’s the left wing Greens which is the reason why peolle don’t vote Labour. You. Can’t have it both ways. Maybe it’s centrism that’s actually at fault for their defeat and trying to be too much like the tories who are moving further to the right themselves.

Fact is if Starmer and Badenoch remain as leaders of the two main parties then that will be the reason Nigel Farage is PM into the 2030s.

Do people hate Labour or do they hatre Starmer? People are making all sorts of assumptions. I'm not sure you can blame the defeat on centrism - there's been a good core 4-5m plus voters who have been lurched to the likes of UKIP for as long as I have been following politics. Now you've got Reform who have taken over some of the traditional working class areas alonside some of the old Tory vote too.

Local elections always take a hammering for the current government. The problem we have is people want change, no immigration and to feel richer but absolutely nobody can deliver that.

Ultimately I agree, I don't think Starmer can lead Labour in to the next election. He's made a few forced and unforced errors domestically, but he's really not been that bad.

4 hours ago, Rooney said:

Do people hate Labour or do they hatre Starmer? People are making all sorts of assumptions. I'm not sure you can blame the defeat on centrism - there's been a good core 4-5m plus voters who have been lurched to the likes of UKIP for as long as I have been following politics. Now you've got Reform who have taken over some of the traditional working class areas alonside some of the old Tory vote too.

Local elections always take a hammering for the current government. The problem we have is people want change, no immigration and to feel richer but absolutely nobody can deliver that.

Ultimately I agree, I don't think Starmer can lead Labour in to the next election. He's made a few forced and unforced errors domestically, but he's really not been that bad.

I’d say they hate Starmer more than Labour itself. He’s an excellent lawyer so good at the detail but not a political animal and unlikeable.

But the policies are terrible too and they seem very technocratic compared to the passionate politicans of the 20th century who at least followed an ideology and represented a movement which had passion. Now the like of Liz 4% Kendall represent the worst of Blairism with the robots in suits mentality. And that’s why they are losing votes as they flip flop about between trying to be more right wing than the tories on the economy and Reeves doing her best impression of Phillip Snowden!

5 hours ago, Mark said:

Big Brother 3's Alex Sibley wins a Reform seat for Emerson Park, in Havering, West London

https://metro.co.uk/2026/05/08/big-brother-star-alex-sibley-wins-seat-reform-local-elections-28284480/

An iconic BB moment tbf!

Full results are officially in for the local elections:

REF - 1,453 (1,451)

LAB - 1,063 (1,489)

LD - 844 (155)

CON - 801 (563)

GRN - 580 (434)

IND - 212 (34)

3 hours ago, Steve201 said:

I’d say they hate Starmer more than Labour itself. He’s an excellent lawyer so good at the detail but not a political animal and unlikeable.

But the policies are terrible too and they seem very technocratic compared to the passionate politicans of the 20th century who at least followed an ideology and represented a movement which had passion. Now the like of Liz 4% Kendall represent the worst of Blairism with the robots in suits mentality. And that’s why they are losing votes as they flip flop about between trying to be more right wing than the tories on the economy and Reeves doing her best impression of Phillip Snowden!

Are Labour's policies really terrible? I agree they could have been slightly bolder, but for the most part things are functioning very well. Yes, it is missing a signature sexy policy.

The truth is people just want a populist or a headline grabber, look at how well Boris did here or Trump is doing in America. It's part of the appeal of Farage too to some level.

They aren’t terrible but they aren’t bold enough and don’t challenge the establishment they are a part of.

With the counts all in, is this a disappointment or overperformance for all parties?

This was an average of all major commentator predictions, in terms of change of numbers of councillors:

REF +1688

GRE +565

LD +172

CON -644

LAB -1569

Using those full figures, I've got the BBC which is slightly different to the figures posted above, we have:

REF +1453

GRE +441

LD +155

CON -563

LAB -1496

So just about 5-10% less extreme of a change than the predictions were saying. Good expectation management from Labour/Conservatives, Reform and Greens coming in slightly below their best predictions - a couple of predictions had the Greens at nearly +900 and Reform at over +2000 which obviously didn't pan out, still plenty of places elected Labour and Cons even with the comparative wipeout. Labour especially had a really high base this cycle, so much further to fall.

Lib Dems quietly making expected slow gains, you go when you feel like it Ed.

5 councils now under Green control, 14 under Reform control. Biggest thing is many councils moved into no overall control and so a minority administration or coalition will have to form. Spare a thought for Barnet council, which is now 31 Conservatives, 31 Labour and 1 singular Green as kingmaker.