Britain woke up to a political earthquake on Friday. Reform UK has stormed through England’s town halls, Plaid Cymru is on course to topple Labour in Wales, and the SNP is fighting to hold its grip on Scotland. Super Thursday has rewritten the rulebook, and Sir Keir Starmer is staring down the worst night of his premiership.
Reform UK Shocks the Map With Huge Council Gains
Nigel Farage’s Reform UK has delivered the result of the night. The party has gained more than 500 council seats across England, surging from the political fringe into a national force in the space of a single year.
Reform now holds Newcastle-under-Lyme outright after flipping it from the Conservatives. Havering, on the eastern edge of London, has also tipped into the Reform column.
In Wigan, the party took 24 of the 25 seats it contested. In nearby Tameside, it ended nearly 50 years of unbroken Labour rule on the council in a single evening.
- More than 500 council seats added to Reform’s tally across England
- First outright control of Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council
- 24 of 25 Wigan seats won by Reform candidates
- Tameside flipped after almost half a century of Labour control
- Havering, on London’s edge, switches to Reform
Pollster Sir John Curtice told reporters the night was “pretty much as bad as anyone expected for Labour, or worse.” His verdict landed hard inside Westminster, where the size of the Reform wave has caught both major parties off guard.
Labour Faithful Turn Their Back on Starmer
By Friday afternoon, Labour had shed more than 330 council seats and lost outright control of at least eight councils. The Conservatives took heavy damage too, with more than 220 losses recorded so far across English town halls.
Quiet anger inside the parliamentary Labour Party is now spilling into open view. Several MPs have privately suggested the prime minister must change his approach if Wales falls and Scotland slips further away.
Sir Keir Starmer has insisted he will not walk away. He has told colleagues he still plans to lead Labour into the 2029 general election, even as backbenchers warn that the cost of living, housing and immigration messages clearly failed to land.
| Party | Net change in English council seats |
|---|---|
| Reform UK | +500 and rising |
| Labour | Over 330 lost |
| Conservatives | Over 220 lost |
| Greens | +50 |
| Liberal Democrats | +28 |
The numbers tell the story of a fractured electorate. Britain’s old two-party system is being replaced, ward by ward, with something far messier and far less predictable.
Plaid Cymru Leads Wales as Senedd Era Shifts
For the first time, Welsh voters have used a fully proportional system to elect 96 members of the Senedd. Plaid Cymru is on course to become the largest party, with leader Rhun ap Iorwerth in pole position to be the next first minister of Wales.
Labour, which has run Wales since devolution began in 1999, is bracing for a historic collapse. Party sources have told ITV News they expect to win as few as 10 seats when the final lists are confirmed.
Reform UK is also set for big gains in the south Wales valleys, picking up votes from former Labour households in towns hit hard by deindustrialisation. The Welsh Greens appear to have lost ground as anti-Reform voters moved tactically toward Plaid.
“It feels like the end of one Wales and the start of another.”
That line, shared by a Plaid activist outside a count in Carmarthen, captures the mood. With no party set to win an outright majority, talks over a coalition or a minority deal will start within hours.
SNP Holds Scotland but Reform Breaks Through
In Scotland, the SNP is leading the constituency vote on around 35 percent. Counting began on Friday morning across all 32 council areas, with the first declarations expected in the afternoon.
Reform UK is on course to win its first ever seats at Holyrood. Forecasts suggest the party could land roughly 19 MSPs, putting it neck and neck with Scottish Labour for second place.
The SNP appears short of the 65 seats needed for a majority, meaning fresh coalition talks could shape the next Scottish government. An early sign of momentum came in Shetland, where SNP candidate Hannah Goodlad won with a 1,500 majority and a 10 percent swing from the Liberal Democrats.
For First Minister John Swinney, holding off both Labour and Reform while keeping the independence question alive will define the days ahead. For Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, a third place finish behind Farage’s party would be a bitter blow.
Super Thursday has shaken the foundations of British politics in a way few predicted just a year ago. Labour heartlands have splintered, the Conservative vote has hollowed out, and two very different challengers, Reform UK in England and Plaid Cymru in Wales, are reshaping the map. For families watching the results trickle in from kitchen tables in Cardiff, Glasgow, Wigan and beyond, this feels less like a normal election and more like a turning point in the story of the United Kingdom. Tell us in the comments how you voted, what shocked you most, and what you think these results mean for your town and your country.
