A political earthquake hit Britain on May 7, 2026. Labour did not just lose ground in Scotland and Wales. It was crushed. The results marked the end of more than a century of Labour dominance in Wales and ignited a full-scale leadership crisis in Westminster that is still shaking the party today.
Wales Falls: A Century of Labour Power Ends in One Night
For 27 years, since devolution began in 1999, Welsh Labour had held power in the Senedd without a single break. That era ended dramatically on election night.
Plaid Cymru swept to power with 43 seats, while Reform UK took a stunning second place with 34 seats. Labour, once the unbeatable force of Welsh politics, was reduced to just nine seats and finished third. Its vote share collapsed to just 11 percent.
Welsh First Minister Eluned Morgan lost her own seat in Ceredigion Penfro to Plaid Cymru, becoming the first sitting head of government in UK history to lose their seat while still in office. She resigned as Welsh Labour leader immediately after the result was confirmed.
“Welsh Labour has today suffered a catastrophic result,” Morgan said. “It ends a century of Labour winning in Wales.”
Voter turnout hit 51.72 percent, the highest ever recorded in any Welsh devolved election. More Welsh people voted than ever before, and they chose change.
This was also the first Senedd election under a fully reformed system, with 96 seats replacing the old 60-member chamber, and 16 new constituencies each electing six members through proportional representation. The scale of Labour’s collapse under this new, fairer system made the result even more damaging. Ken Skates was named interim Welsh Labour leader on May 9, just one day after Morgan stepped down, marking the party’s fourth leadership change in just over two years.
| Party | Seats Won | Vote Share |
|---|---|---|
| Plaid Cymru | 43 | 35% |
| Reform UK | 34 | 29% |
| Labour | 9 | 11% |
| Conservatives | 7 | N/A |
| Greens | 2 | N/A |
| Liberal Democrats | 1 | N/A |
Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth is set to become the next Welsh First Minister, possibly as early as this week. He said Wales “demanded change” and that his party “stands ready to form the next Government of Wales.”
Scotland Delivers Another Painful Blow to Labour
In Scotland, the Scottish National Party won the Holyrood election for a fifth consecutive time, securing 58 MSPs but falling seven short of an outright majority.
Labour and Reform UK both ended up on 17 seats each, in what was Scottish Labour’s worst-ever Holyrood result. At the previous election in 2021, Scottish Labour had won 22 seats. This time the party could not gain any ground despite widespread voter frustration with SNP governance.
Reform UK, which had not held a single seat in the last Holyrood parliament, matched Labour’s total entirely through regional list gains. That alone tells the story of how fast Scotland’s political map is shifting.
The Scottish Greens also made history. Lorna Slater won Edinburgh Central, becoming the first Green to take a Holyrood constituency seat rather than a regional list place. Holly Bruce claimed Glasgow Southside, the seat once held by former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar had publicly called for Keir Starmer to quit as far back as February, stating that Starmer’s leadership was “a distraction” for the party. The damage done by Westminster’s toxicity clearly followed Labour north of the border all the way to polling day.
Reform UK’s Stunning Rise Reshapes British Politics
Nigel Farage’s Reform UK entered these elections with no seats in either the Scottish Parliament or the Welsh Senedd. It left as the main opposition party in both.
The story was the same across England. Reform won over 1,400 council seats, while Labour lost control of 35 councils and roughly 1,500 councillors, amounting to about 60 percent of all seats the party was defending.
The BBC’s projected national vote share put Labour at just 17 percent, joint third with the Conservatives, down by nearly half from its 2024 general election performance.
Here is how the key parties performed across all three fronts:
- Reform UK: Gained 1,400+ council seats in England, 34 Senedd seats in Wales, 17 MSPs in Scotland
- Labour: Lost 1,500+ councillors in England, finished third in Wales with 9 seats, hit a record low of 17 MSPs in Scotland
- Plaid Cymru: Won the Welsh Senedd for the first time in the chamber’s history
- SNP: Secured a fifth consecutive Holyrood election win
- Greens: Gained 300+ seats in England and won their first-ever two Senedd seats in Wales
Northern Ireland’s First Minister Michelle O’Neill of Sinn Fein congratulated both the SNP and Plaid Cymru. She said “for the first time ever, there could be three pro-independence First Ministers across these islands.” It was a striking signal of just how far Labour’s grip on the nations of the UK has slipped.
Starmer Under Fire as Labour’s Crisis Deepens
The election results triggered a revolt back in Westminster that Starmer’s team had no answer for.
Labour Crisis by the Numbers
- 90+ Labour MPs calling for Starmer to resign or set a departure date
- 4 ministers resigned from his government, including safeguarding minister Jess Phillips
- Labour’s projected national vote share: 17%
- Starmer’s net favourability rating: -57, equalling Liz Truss
- UK government borrowing costs surged to their highest level since 2008
Jess Phillips resigned as safeguarding minister, saying she was “not seeing the change I think I and the country expect.” Miatta Fahnbulleh, the junior devolution minister, also stepped down, saying Starmer had “lost the trust and confidence of the public.”
Starmer refused to walk away. He told his cabinet he would “get on with governing” and insisted no formal leadership challenge had been triggered under the party’s rules, which require 81 MPs to submit nominations to start a contest.
More than 100 Labour MPs signed a letter supporting Starmer, warning it was “no time for a leadership contest.” But the backing is not holding firm. Analysts at Eurasia Group described his Monday speech as a failure and placed the probability of a leadership election by September at 35 percent.
The roots of the crisis run deep. Voter anger has built steadily over cuts to the winter fuel allowance, the controversial appointment and firing of Peter Mandelson as UK ambassador to the United States due to his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, repeated policy U-turns, and a failure to address rising living costs. By January 2026, YouGov polling showed 75 percent of people held an unfavourable view of the Prime Minister.
Names now circulating as potential successors include Health Secretary Wes Streeting, former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, and Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham. None have formally declared, but the pressure on Starmer grows by the day.
What happened across Scotland and Wales on May 7 is more than just a brutal night for one party. It is a realignment that has been building for years, and it arrived all at once. Labour built its identity on the coal fields of Wales and the working communities of Scotland. Those same communities have now, loudly and clearly, turned their backs on it. Whether a new leader can rebuild that relationship before 2029, or whether this marks a permanent fracture in British political history, remains the biggest question in UK politics right now. What do you think? Is this the beginning of the end for Labour in Wales and Scotland? Drop your thoughts in the comments below.
