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Pointless analysing anything at this stage. We’re talking about partial results from a limited number of seats up for grabs. Even once we get full results, we’re still only talking about a subsection of the electorate, albeit a reasonably large one.
The numbers behind the overall seat distribution will be key. Almost certain to confirm that we have a highly fragmented electorate, one thing which probably can be projected nationwide. Turnout could also be interesting.
Agree Richard. But just to illustrate the point I made earlier, Labour was defending 16 seats on Halton council in Cheshire. Reform won 15 of them but Labour retain overall control of the council because it holds most of the uncontested seats.
I expect a lot of councils will go to No Overall Control but I doubt Reform will have majority control of many.
Some sections of the media do seem to have lost sight of the fact that plenty of places did not vote yesterday. There were no elections in my neck of the woods, for example.
Some sections? Large amounts of it I’d say. As far as I can tell, around 5,000 seats were up from a total of about 18,000-19,000. Even I would have put it over 30% and I was well aware many areas weren’t voting, including where I am.
Welsh and Scottish results of more importance being for their respective devolved parliaments.
Clearly not looking good for Labour and that’s highly unlikely to change but the fact is all the results were decided at 10pm last night. Naturally, results are drip fed throughout the night and today so any idea of momentum that the media likes to talk about is an entirely false narrative to give them something to fill time with.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/07/parties-election-climate-abuse-campaign-trail
This doesn’t surprise me, now if only we could find those responsible.
Labour was defending 16 seats on Halton council in Cheshire. Reform won 15 of them but Labour retain overall control of the council because it holds most of the uncontested seats
I was under the impression that either all seats in a council area are contested or none at all, which as you point out isn’t the case with some having just around a third of the total contested. It’s all rather mysterious.
Some sections of the media do seem to have lost sight of the fact that plenty of places did not vote yesterday. There were no elections in my neck of the woods, for example.
Not voting in my area either, next year apparently.
Here’s a link listing how many areas have voted and how many seats in each have been contested.
How all this is decided I don’t know, seems unnecessarily complicated to me.
Boroughs, County Councils, District Councils, Unitary Authorities, Metropolitan Districts…blimey
Is the idea of staggered elections to keep some continuity? Running a council isn’t easy and perhaps potentially replacing the entire thing in one go is problematic? Can’t imagine replacing competent councillors with a bunch of the local headbangers who signed up to Reform because they thought the boats needed to be stopped from coming to their landlocked county in the midlands is a good idea.
Doesn’t explain why London boroughs have all their seats up at once though.
As I understand it, there is local government reorganisation (simplification?) due soon so some of those voting now will also be doing so again once it happens.
“Boroughs, County Councils, District Councils, Unitary Authorities, Metropolitan Districts…blimey”.
And then people wonder why nothing gets done!
Sophie Raworth asking Yvette Cooper how Labour have become so unpopular only two years after a landslide victory in the General Election. It seems to have escaped her attention the party got 33% of the vote on a 60% turnout. It was never that popular anyway.
“It seems to have escaped her attention the party got 33% of the vote on a 60% turnout. It was never that popular anyway.”
Exactly. I think i posted in this thread, not long after the GE 2024, that The Stay-At-Home Party were the real ‘victors’ in July ’24.
Back to the Council results. Peeps going on about only a smallish % of councils went to the polls. Yes, but it’s trends guys, trends.
The results, so far, are just mirroring what’s been happening in local council by-election contests over last year or so.Is the idea of staggered elections to keep some continuity? Running a council isn’t easy and perhaps potentially replacing the entire thing in one go is problematic?
An eminently sensible reason, perhaps the actual reason.
Anyway, I’ve been searching for how and when local elections are determined, and have found this:
Reorganisation and simplification…yes please
Sophie Raworth asking Yvette Cooper how Labour have become so unpopular only two years after a landslide victory in the General Election. It seems to have escaped her attention the party got 33% of the vote on a 60% turnout. It was never that popular anyway.
This is the same media, yes that includes Raworth’s employer, that is treating Reform as the second coming based on polling numbers in the mid to high 20s. As I have said before, the simple fact is that no one party is particularly popular.
Labour needs to bring in PR for the next election. I actually think they’d end up with more seats than FPTP if they did that given how low they have sunk. If that lands us a disastrous Reform/Tory coalition then sobeit. They’ll fight like rats in a sack.
Someone from Reform was on earlier saying they had done well in Liverpool.
News to me. There are no local elections in the city this year.
One of the Reform candidates claimed to be from UKIP. A Freudian slip if ever I heard one.
I think the BBC’s reporting angle is a consequence of the two parties that have governed over the last century seeing a dramatic decline in their support and a different party topping the poll, albeit at a level not equal to what the other parties used to get.
No matter what anyone might think about that personally, it is newsworthy. And while it is too early and perhaps unwise to project these results onto a General Election, I suspect they will not be too far off what eventually happens, especially if Starmer stays on.
Reform have done well in the Liverpool area, not Liverpool City itself. Reform will win in very poor Labour areas as the voters there believe their lives have not improved and want change. They would never vote Conservative and simply do not understand that Reform is actually far right of this right wing party. It is like turkeys voting for Christmas. In areas where the Conservatives had a massive majority Reform could do well and many of them are on the extreme right of the party.
As for a right wing coalition (Reform + Conservatives) after the next generation there is little chance of this. Left wing voters (apart from the very poor) will vote Liberal Democrat, while extreme left wing voters will vote Green. After the next General Election I I expect the order to be Reform, Liberal Democrats, Labour, Conservatives and Green. The most likely outcome would be a Liberal Democrat government, supported by Labour and the Greens. Even then the majority will be very thin.
Of course the above forecast is based on how things are now. Within two years Trump might be gone and the US will be in crisis mode thanks to his policies. People will realise the stupidity of voting for a ‘Trump’ party and Reform could implode. If that happens then Reform voters will go back to the Conservatives and poor voters will go back to Labour. We could have a very interesting outcome.
People can already see what a Reform Trump style government would be like but still seem to be voting for them. Because they think their vile policies will not apply to them. As you say, Turkeys voting for Christmas. First they came for……
And what lovely people they are putting up for election in the Liverpool area too. Remember, antisemitism is exclusively a left wing thing.
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