Keir Starmer vowed to carry on as UK prime minister Friday after taking responsibility for grim local election results that saw the hard right make big gains as disillusioned Britons go off mainstream parties.
"I'm not going to walk away and plunge the country into chaos," Starmer insisted, after his ruling Labour party lost hundreds of councilors in England and admitted defeat in Wales -- one of its iconic heartlands.
Labour was also braced for difficult results in the devolved parliament in Scotland, where the pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP) said it was on course to extend its 19 years in power.
"The results are tough, they are very tough, and there's no sugarcoating it," Starmer, 63, said.
"We have lost brilliant Labour representatives across the country, these are people who put so much into their communities, so much into our party.
"And that hurts, and it should hurt, and I take responsibility," he added.
The ballot was the biggest electoral test for Starmer since Labour ousted the Conservatives following 14 years in power in a landslide election victory in 2024.
- Missteps -
He has since failed to fulfill his main promise of spurring economic growth and has been plagued by policy missteps, with impatient Britons still suffering a cost-of-living crisis now flocking to insurgent parties.
Nigel Farage's anti-immigrant Reform UK party had gained 641 seats while Labour had lost 460 across 73 of the 136 English councils to announce results by mid-afternoon Friday.
Reform had taken control of three councils -- the counties of Suffolk and Essex in eastern England and the central town of Newcastle-under-Lyme.
Farage said the local election results had demonstrated a "truly historic shift in British politics," adding that Reform "are here to stay".
Pollster John Curtice said the results illustrated a new fragmentation of British politics, with Labour being hit from its right by Reform and its left by the Greens, led by self-described eco-populist Zack Polanski.
Those backing Reform were "broadly people with a relatively socially conservative outlook" who had "lost confidence in the traditional mainstream parties" and were sympathetic to the party's views on issues such as immigration and Brexit, he said.
The ballot decided around 5,000 local council seats, out of 16,000, across England.
London finance worker Ian Tanner said he disliked Starmer's "dreadful policies" but was fearful any replacement might be "even more left wing".
Another finance worker, Dayo Foster, 60, said she believed Labour was doing "all the right things" and that Starmer just needed more time. "I don't want him to resign, no, I think we need a bit of stability".
- Leadership rumors -
In Wales, a Labour spokesperson conceded that the party would lose control of the devolved Welsh government for the first time since the parliament was established 27 years ago.
Reform or the pro-independence Plaid Cymru are expected to become the biggest party.
In Scotland, SNP leader John Swinney declared his party was on track to be the largest. As early results trickled in, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar conceded Labour hadn't won the "argument".
In London, the Greens picked up disaffected left-wingers with a pro-Gaza message.
Hailing the election of Zoe Garbett as mayor in the east London borough of Hackney, a key target area, Polanski called two-party politics "dead and buried"
Kemi Badenoch's right-wing Conservatives lost hundreds of councilors, many in traditional strongholds, although they did gain control of Westminster in central London.
A scandal over Peter Mandelson who was sacked as ambassador to Washington over his links to US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has contributed to Starmer now enduring rock-bottom approval ratings.
Britain's media has been full of rumors that ex-deputy prime minister Angela Rayner or Health Secretary Wes Streeting could try to oust Starmer after the results.
Neither is universally popular within Labour, however, and would need the backing of 20 percent of the party's MPs to launch a contest.
"Days like this don't weaken my resolve to deliver the change that I promised," said Starmer.
