Local elections live: Starmer defies Labour MP’s leadership threat with revival plan for closer EU ties – UK Times

The results of this year’s local election in London have sent historical records tumbling, while revealing stark differences in how the parties fared in the capital compared with the rest of England.

Labour successfully defended a higher percentage of its seats than it did elsewhere, while Reform UK won a much lower proportion of seats in which it stood candidates than it managed outside London, according to Press Association analysis.

Sir Keir Starmer’s party has won 67% of the council seats in the capital that it held just before the elections took place.

This compares with a win rate of 30% for seats it defended outside London.

Reform has won just 5% of the seats in the capital in which it fielded candidates, compared with a rate of 43% for the seats it contested across the rest of England.

Other parties have seen contrasting fortunes inside and outside the capital, with the Greens winning 19% of seats in London, in which it stood candidates, higher than the 10% it managed in the rest of England.

The Conservatives won 46% of the seats they defended outside London, while the party saw a net increase of 6% in its number of councillors in the capital compared with just before polling day.

The results show clearly how people in the capital voted for a wider range of parties than ever before, with nearly four in 10 council seats (39.3%) won by someone other than Labour or the Conservatives.

A Labour MP has urged would-be leaders in the cabinet to challenge Sir Keir Starmer by Monday – or she will – following the party’s disastrous local election results.

Catherine West, the MP for Hornsey and Friern Barnet, who was sacked by Sir Keir as a junior minister in the Foreign Office, said the cabinet should “reorganise themselves” and, to avoid a contest, put forward their “best communicator” to replace the prime minister. If that did not happen she would seek the 80 names needed to trigger a contest, she said.

Speaking to The Independent, Ms West said: “We had cataclysmic election results last week and our response so far does not match the emergency that faces us. I am terrified we will end up with prime minister Farage.”

The outcome of these elections provides more evidence of a country pulling away from a traditional two-party system, with strong support coming in for other parties, at least at local elections so far. Here are some of the towns and cities that highlight the trend:

Keir Starmer’s premiership is teetering on the brink, but his rivals cannot give him the final push, writes John Rentoul. Read below.

The results show clearly how people in the capital voted for a wider range of parties than ever before, with nearly four in 10 council seats (39.3 per cent) won by someone other than Labour or the Conservatives.

This is more than double the equivalent figure at the 2022 local elections (14.1 per cent) and is the highest percentage of seats not won by either Labour or the Tories in the modern history of local government in London, which began when the current system of councils was established in 1964.

Of the 1,817 seats up for grabs in the capital this year, the Greens won 16.3 per cent, the Liberal Democrats 13.4 per cent, Reform 4.3 per cent and Aspire 1.8 per cent.

Labour won 38.3 per cent, down from 63.6 per cent in 2022 and its lowest figure since 2006 (36.8 per cent).

The Conservatives won 22.4 per cent, up very slightly from 22.2 per cent in 2022.

The results of this year’s local election in London have sent historical records tumbling, while revealing stark differences in how the parties fared in the capital compared with the rest of England.

Labour successfully defended a higher percentage of its seats than it did elsewhere, while Reform UK won a much lower proportion of seats in which it stood candidates than it managed outside London, according to Press Association analysis.

Sir Keir Starmer’s party has won 67 per cent of the council seats in the capital that it held just before the elections took place.

This compares with a win rate of 30 per cent for seats it defended outside London.

Reform has won just 5 per cent of the seats in the capital in which it fielded candidates, compared with a rate of 43 per cent for the seats it contested across the rest of England.

Other parties have seen contrasting fortunes inside and outside the capital, with the Greens winning 19 per cent of seats in London, in which it stood candidates, higher than the 10 per cent it managed in the rest of England.

The Conservatives won 46 per cent of the seats they defended outside London, while the party saw a net increase of 6 per cent in its number of councillors in the capital compared with just before polling day.

Keir Starmer took aim at Brexit and said forging closer ties with Europe will be at the heart of his response to Labour’s dismal showing in the local elections, as he vowed to lead the party into the next general election.