Nigel Farage has swiped that the Conservatives ‘will never recover’ in the wake of their local elections wipeout.
The Conservatives suffered a significant blow in the recent elections, losing over 600 councillors and relinquishing control of all 15 councils they previously ruled. This dismal performance ranks among the party’s poorest showings in history.
Additionally, the Labour party faced setbacks by losing almost 200 council seats. Their defeat was compounded by a loss in a parliamentary by-election in Runcorn and Helsby, a seat they had won comfortably in the previous general election.
The two main parties suffered a grim night as Reform UK won more than 650 council seats and seized control of 10 councils.
Mr Farage’s party also won mayoralties in Greater Lincolnshire and Hull and East Yorkshire, and were victorious in Runcorn and Helsby.
Reflecting on the broader political landscape, Nigel Farage highlighted the successes of the Liberal Democrats and Greens in the elections. In an article for The Telegraph, he triumphantly declared that these results signify a transformative shift in the political arena, boldly claiming that ‘nothing will ever be the same again’.
‘Two-party politics at both local and national level is over. The system that dominated in this country for a century died on Thursday. It will never return,’ the Reform leader said.
He added: ‘The party that I lead is expanding. As we march on, the Conservatives are in retreat. In my opinion, they will never recover.’
Nigel Farage has swiped that the Conservatives ‘will never recover’ in the wake of their local elections wipeout
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has faced calls to change tack after Reform won in Runcorn and Helsby and took control of the previously Labour-run Doncaster Council
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch saw her party lose more than 600 councillors and all 15 of the councils they controlled going into Thursday’s contest
Mr Farage said ‘there is now a widespread acceptance that Reform UK has supplanted the Conservatives as the real opposition to Labour in England, Scotland and Wales.
‘We no longer have to rely only on opinion polls to indicate this; Thursday’s results prove it,’ he continued.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has faced calls to change tack after Reform won in Runcorn and Helsby and took control of the previously Labour-run Doncaster Council.
Labour backbencher Emma Lewell said the Government has made unnecessary choices that have cost the party at the ballot box.
She added the party needs a ‘change of plan’ rather than a ‘plan for change’.
‘The Labour Party doesn’t need to lurch right or left, we need to do what we say we will do and do it in line with our core values and principles of social justice and fairness,’ she wrote in The Mirror.
Clive Efford, Labour MP for Eltham and Chislehurst, said it was ‘madness’ to keep doing the same thing.
‘The idea that the public have given us such a kicking because they think we’re not going fast enough and they want more of the same, it’s just nonsense,’ he told Times Radio.
South Yorkshire mayor Oliver Coppard warned that patience is ‘in short supply’ in his region and urged Sir Keir to have those voters in mind when they make spending decisions in the summer.
Labour MP Rachael Maskell called on the Government to scrap winter fuel and welfare policies that she said are pushing voters away, telling BBC Breakfast the party needs to be driven by ‘a framework of values, which is about protecting people’.
Jo White, the chair of the Red Wall group of Labour MPs, urged Sir Keir to stop ‘pussyfooting around’ and introduce digital ID cards to stop illegal immigration.
‘He should take a leaf out of Donald Trump’s book by following his instincts and issuing some executive orders,’ she wrote in The Telegraph.
Conservative figures have sought to deny that the results were ‘existential’ for the party.Â
Shadow minister Richard Fuller said Reform would soon find out there are ‘no simple answers’ to local public finances and have to make ‘difficult choices’.
The public will then ‘hold them to account for the decisions they make,’ he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
Sir Edward Leigh, the Father of the House of the Commons, said the Tories needed to take on Reform by being as ‘tough’ as Mr Farage on immigration and Net Zero.
The veteran Conservative MP said: ‘It must be obvious to everybody now that we’ve got to do what the people want and have policies on Net Zero and immigration which are just as tough as Reform.
‘And sooner or later, before the election, we’ve got to have an electoral alliance with them, otherwise we’ll let Labour in the game. I think they’re the views of many Tory MPs.’
Sir Edward backed Kemi Badenoch to carry on as Tory leader, saying the party should concentrate on its policy offer and ‘there’s no point having endless leadership elections’.
