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Keir Starmer says he won’t quit after local elections deliver major losses for Labour and wins for Reform UK
Associated Press ^ | 05/08/2026 | JILL LAWLESS

Posted on 05/08/2026 8:43:21 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

LONDON (AP) — 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 party Reform UK make major gains.

The local and regional elections are widely seen as unofficial referendum on Starmer, whose popularity has plummeted since he led Labour to power less than two years ago

Voters have grown impatient for economic growth and dramatic change after 14 years of Conservative government, and many Labour lawmakers have become despairing at the government’s failure to deliver.

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 Hartlepool that once were solid Labour turf, and also made gains from the Conservatives in areas like Havering on the eastern edge of London.

Farage said the results marked a “historic change in British politics.”

Reform took seats from both Labour and the Conservatives as results were tallied across England. Votes were also being counted in contests for semiautonomous parliaments in Scotland and Wales.

A Labour rout in the elections could trigger moves by restive party lawmakers to oust a leader who won a landslide victory in July 2024. Even if Starmer survives for now, many analysts doubt he will lead the party into the next national election, which must be held by 2029.

Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy cautioned the party not to topple the prime minister,

(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: brexit; reform; reformuk; starmer; unitedkingdom

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1 posted on 05/08/2026 8:43:21 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Maybe they’ll BOOT him ,LOL


2 posted on 05/08/2026 8:44:22 AM PDT by butlerweave (Fateh)
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To: SeekAndFind

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage poses for a photo during a visit to Havering Town Hall, in Romford, England, Friday May 8, 2026, a day after the local elections. (Yui Mok/PA via AP)
3 posted on 05/08/2026 8:44:33 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

He’s gonna have to be dragged out in leg irons.


4 posted on 05/08/2026 8:52:36 AM PDT by sauropod
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To: sauropod

“oust a leader who won a landslide victory in July 2024.”

F’n AP. Labour got 35% of that vote.


5 posted on 05/08/2026 9:00:07 AM PDT by gibsonguy
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To: SeekAndFind

Pray Starmer doesn’t quit. He’s just an incompetent boob.

Any possible replacement will be much, much worse.


6 posted on 05/08/2026 9:02:32 AM PDT by Jim Noble (Assez de mensonges et des phrases)
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To: gibsonguy

That’s why I call them Ape Pee. Cuz that’s what they’re worth.


7 posted on 05/08/2026 9:05:24 AM PDT by sauropod
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To: SeekAndFind

Just a flesh wound!


8 posted on 05/08/2026 9:05:35 AM PDT by xp38
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To: SeekAndFind

““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.””

Sounds like he’s going to double down on stoopid... not surprisingly since it’s their MO.


9 posted on 05/08/2026 9:07:34 AM PDT by aquila48 (Do not let them make you "care" ! Guilting you is how they control you. )
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To: SeekAndFind

Of course he won’t. Leftists never quit or face consequences. Instead, he will get busy figuring out how to cancel and or delay any elections.


10 posted on 05/08/2026 9:08:56 AM PDT by FlipWilson
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To: butlerweave

The Lust for Power is the Grandest of them all.


11 posted on 05/08/2026 9:09:35 AM PDT by Linda Tripp (America's Best Best Friend)
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To: SeekAndFind

Gravy train......🚂


12 posted on 05/08/2026 9:13:02 AM PDT by rktman (Destroy America from within? On hold! Enlisted USN 1967 proudly. 🚫💉! 🇮🇱🙏! Winning currently!)
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To: sauropod

“...He’s gonna have to be dragged out in leg irons...”

Yep. Typical communist.....
He’d be wise to just quietly leave while he still can.
In another time, he’d be Mussolini’ed in the public square.


13 posted on 05/08/2026 9:26:00 AM PDT by lgjhn23 ("On the 8th day, Satan created the progressive liberal to destroy all the good that God created...")
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To: butlerweave

He’s going to get “The Spanish Archer”....El Bow!


14 posted on 05/08/2026 9:26:48 AM PDT by dfwgator ("I am Charlie Kirk!")
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To: SeekAndFind

sounds like a guy over here named powell.


15 posted on 05/08/2026 9:27:37 AM PDT by Harpotoo (Being a socialist is a lot easier than having to WORK like the rest of US;-))
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To: SeekAndFind

16 posted on 05/08/2026 9:30:28 AM PDT by Opinionated Blowhard (When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.)
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To: lgjhn23

Agreed. Or Ceaucescu’d.


17 posted on 05/08/2026 9:33:13 AM PDT by sauropod
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To: gibsonguy

Labor in 2024 won lots of seats, because Reform and Conservatives split the vote.
Otherwise, Labor just basically got its traditional 35%.
Now, Reform is clearly established as the majority party, so people, who do not want to loose the vote for small party, will vote Reform!


18 posted on 05/08/2026 10:10:09 AM PDT by AZJeep (sane )
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To: SeekAndFind

I happen to shook hand and have photo with Nigel!
Good guy.
He was not smiling that much on my photo!


19 posted on 05/08/2026 10:11:52 AM PDT by AZJeep (sane )
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To: SeekAndFind

The UK is gone.


20 posted on 05/08/2026 10:12:43 AM PDT by Carriage Hill (A society grows great when old men plant trees, in whose shade they know they will never sit.)
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