Labour braces for ballot box bloodbath
5/1/202637 min
With just one week to go before voters across the UK deliver their verdict on Sir Keir Starmer’s government – our panel discusses another agonising week for the PM, Labour’s forecast devastation at the polls, and how No 10 can regroup in the aftermath.
Other talking points include the momentum behind Reform UK and the Green party — and the hurdles that threaten to trip them up.
Host Lucy Fisher is joined by deputy opinion editor Miranda Green, UK chief political commentator Robert Shrimsley and political columnist Stephen Bush.
Follow: Lucy @LOS_Fisher or @lucyfisher.ft.com; Stephen @stephenkb & @stephenkb.bsky.social; Miranda @greenmiranda & @greenmirandahere.bsky.social and Robert @robertshrimsley and @robertshrimsley.bsky.social
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Plus, send in your questions for a special Political Fix Q&A episode right after the local elections, on Monday May 11. Email: politicalfix@ft.com
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Political Fix is presented by Lucy Fisher and produced by Clare Williamson. The executive producer is Flo Phillips. Mixing and original music by Breen Turner. The FT’s head of audio is Cheryl Brumley.
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsLucy Fisher· Host0:01
[upbeat music] There's just one week to go before voters across the UK give their verdict on Keir Starmer's government in the biggest electoral test since 2024. Welcome to Political Fix from the Financial Times with me, Lucy Fisher. For Labour, it's set to be a bloodbath at the ballot box after another agonizing week for the PM. The Tories, too, are braced for a hammering. So with nationalist parties on track for gains, and Reform and the Greens also set to be celebrating next week, what kind of fallout awaits Starmer? I'm joined in the studio by my FT colleagues, Miranda Green, our deputy opinion editor. Hello, Miranda.
Miranda Green· Panelist0:40
Hello, Lucy.
Lucy Fisher· Host0:40
The UK chief political commentator, Robert Shrimsley. Hi, Robert.
Robert Shrimsley· Panelist0:44
Hey, Lucy.
Lucy Fisher· Host0:44
And political columnist and writer of the Inside Politics newsletter, Stephen Bush. Hi, Stephen.
Stephen Bush· Panelist0:49
Hi, Lucy.
Lucy Fisher· Host0:50
So guys, Starmer has limped to the finish line of this parliamentary session, but it's been another pretty gruesome week for the Prime Minister. Robert, he's faced more testimonies at the Foreign Affairs Committee around the appointment of Peter Mandelson, and also this debate and vote on whether to refer him to a Sleaze Inquiry. He won that vote, but a bit of a hollow victory.
Robert Shrimsley· Panelist1:13
Well, one of the reasons he won that vote on whether he should face the kind of inquiry that Boris Johnson faced over Partygate with the incredibly important and powerful Privileges Committee, he won it by whipping his MPs to support him, and that's not a good look because this is the kind of thing that is meant to be a free vote