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In Barnsley, south Yorkshire, 50 years of Labour rule ended on Friday with Reform UK taking control. Voters in the area said they wanted to see change, with one saying Labour had abandoned the working class. For others, a dislike for Keir Starmer was their main motivation when casting their vote. BBC's UK editor Ed Thomas reports from Barnsley.

People freaking out about the Reform UK win compilation pic.twitter.com/QJIQM4wqLo— ɖʀʊӄքǟ ӄʊռʟɛʏ 🇧🇹🇹🇩 (@kunley_drukpa) May 8, 2026It's amazing. Nigel Farage and Reform UK has a platform that is more or less the same as establishment Republicans in the United States: Lots of bravado about "conservatism" but voting like Democrats going the speed limit. But because they are the only viable right-wing option for the moment, people voted for them in spades in Thursday's local elections. They are estimated to pick up well over 1,500 council seats across the country (they previously had TWO), while the left-wing Labour Party crashes out....

"A truly historic shift in British politics"

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...

British voters cast ballots Thursday in local and regional elections that could shake up the country’s politics and deliver a heavy blow to embattled Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Starmer’s center-left Labour Party is bracing for big losses in polls that will choose about 5,000 local councilors and a handful of mayors across England, as well as semiautonomous parliaments in Scotland and Wales. They are the biggest set of elections since Labour swept to power in a landslide in July 2024, and Starmer’s opponents have painted them as a midterm referendum on the prime minister. Polls closed at 10 p.m. (2100...

Lord Hayward forecasts Labour to lose in 75 per cent of the wards it is defending, with net losses standing at 1,850. Sir Keir Starmer has been left bracing for a Labour wipeout in the upcoming 2026 Local Elections. Polling guru Lord Hayward, who is also a Tory peer, is predicting a torrid night for the Prime Minister at the ballot box. The forecast suggests Labour could lose three-in-four seats, with net losses standing at 1,850. Such a result would prove far more catastrophic than Labour’s haul in the 2025 Local Elections, when Sir Keir’s candidate was defeated in just...

The UK’s new ambassador to the US has described Keir Starmer as having been “on the ropes” over the Peter Mandelson scandal and said it is Israel rather than Britain that has a “special relationship” with the White House. Christian Turner, who took office in February to replace Mandelson as the UK’s most senior diplomat in Washington, made the remarks privately to a group of students visiting the US in the same month he was appointed. His remarks are embarrassing for Downing Street because they emerged in the same week that the king is carrying out his state visit under...

The government has been urged to encourage Brits to work from home to prevent energy shortages in the wake of the war in Iran....

Sir Keir Stamer has insisted the "vast majority" of Labour MPs supported him and wanted him to continue doing his job as prime minister. He was speaking to the Sunday Times at the end of a week in which speculation about a potential leadership challenge has risen. Sir Keir told the paper "in politics, you get this sort of thing all of the time, there is always talk". Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said the prime minister should resign over his decision to appoint Lord Mandelson as the UK's ambassador to the US, adding that Labour MPs should "develop a...

0:022 second: ... The prime minister of the United Kingdom is facing a resignation countdown with a number of 0:1010 seconds: high-profile Labour figures including government ministers for the first time calling for his resignation. Until now, 0:1818 seconds: we've had previously backbench MPs and opposition MPs obviously calling for his resignation. But this is now reaching a 0:2626 seconds: new level and it is about his own government ministers, his own cabinets. 0:3232 seconds: Of course, we're going to give you guys the latest update on what is actually happening right now in Britain and of course uh how...

US President Donald Trump attacked Sir Keir Starmer again on Wednesday doing a brutal impersonation of the Prime Minister. Trump briefly mentioned King Charles' upcoming visit to the US this month before quickly turning back to Keir Starmer, who Trump has previously criticised for his response to the Iran war. Trump adopted a weak sounding voice to imitate Keir Starmer, saying that the UK was unable to send British forces to the region. The US president said he had asked whether the UK could send its "two old, worn-out aircraft carriers" to help secure the Strait of Hormuz. Trump said...

President Trump's suggestion that the US might withdraw from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) drew criticism from former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) and Sen. Chris Coons (D-Conn), both members of the Senate defense appropriations subcommittee, who asserted that "Americans are safer when NATO is strong and united. NATO troops fought and died in Afghanistan and Iraq alongside American forces." Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) pointed out that "NATO stood by America and came to our aid after the September 11, 2001 attacks. Remember, the obligation of NATO members is to aid each other...

Keir Starmer has been warned his relationship with Donald Trump may be beyond repair after the US president derided the prime minister for consulting his team about military decisions, in a mocking impersonation. In a new low for UK-US relations, Trump appeared to imitate Starmer in a weak voice during an Easter lunch speech at the White House and said the UK was “not our best” as an ally. The episode is Trump’s latest broadside at Starmer and the UK’s “old” aircraft carriers after the prime minister declined to let the US use British military bases for its initial strikes...

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer defended NATO on Wednesday after President Trump suggested that the U.S. would reconsider its membership to the longstanding alliance once the conflict with Iran concludes. “NATO is the single most effective military alliance the world has ever seen,” Starmer told reporters during a press conference at Downing Street. “It has kept us safe for many decades, and we are fully committed to NATO.” Starmer refused to bow to “pressure” from Trump, reaffirming the U.K.’s stance against wider involvement in the joint U.S.-Israeli military operation. “Whatever the pressure on me and others, whatever the noise, I’m...

It’s now crystal clear what President Trump thinks of Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain. Over the weekend, Mr. Trump shared on social media a brutal skit from Britain’s new version of the “Saturday Night Live” show, portraying the prime minister as overly eager to please the president and terrified of him. “Golly,” the actor portraying Mr. Starmer says, “what if Donald shouts at me?” Mr. Trump’s decision to distribute the skit to millions of his followers is the latest presidential disparagement of his British counterpart. In recent weeks, the president has mercilessly mocked Mr. Starmer as cowardly and spineless...

Donald Trump shared a video clip from the U.K.’s version of Saturday Night Live on Truth Social Sunday morning depicting Prime Minister Keir Starmer cowering in fear of the U.S. president. The skit opened on the prime minister’s residence at Number 10 Downing Street, where a worried-looking Starmer sat at his desk making a phone call. “Oh, woah. Oh, golly!” Starmer exclaimed. “What if Donald shouts at me? What do I say?” “Just be yourself, prime minister,” Starmer’s aide advised. “Yourself is whom everyone likes.” When a voice that sounded like Trump answered the call, the Starmer character yelped, “Ah!”...

Keir Starmer has said the conflict engulfing the Middle East could continue “for some time” as he insisted the best way forward in the longer term was a negotiated settlement with Iran. The prime minister said the UK was doing “everything we can” to de-escalate the situation, a clear contrast to the US president, who is focused on regime change and has said it was “too late” for Tehran to negotiate. He defended his decision to block initial offensive strikes by the US and Israel at the weekend, saying he stood by his judgment and denying it had damaged the...

Trump called Britain "uncooperative" from the Oval Office, then replaced Lloyd's of London as the insurer of the Strait of Hormuz — breaking 300 years of Crown control over global energy in one day. The UK has been officially removed from the status of a close ally of America.

UK's Keir Starmer reacts to US strikes on Iran

Angela Rayner today led calls for Keir Starmer to drag Labour even further Left following its 'catastrophic' by-election defeat. The former deputy prime minister said the disastrous result in the previously safe Labour seat of Gorton and Denton should serve as a 'wake-up call' for a party struggling to demonstrate 'the change that we promised'. Ms Rayner, who is among the favourites to succeed Sir Keir if he is forced out in the coming months, said the party leadership had to be 'braver' and adopt a 'Labour agenda that puts people first' – code for a more Left-wing platform on...