What next for Labour as Reform wins big in local elections? – The Latest
5/8/202615 min
Keir Starmer has vowed to fight on after Labour suffered heavy losses in local elections, while Nigel Farage’s Reform UK made substantial gains and the Green party won its first ever mayoral victory. So is the era of two-party politics over? And can the prime minister survive? Lucy Hough speaks to political correspondent Alexandra Topping. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus
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First 90 secondsLucy Hough· Host0:00
This is The Guardian.
Alexandra Topping· Guest0:01
This is obviously terrible news for Keir Starmer's Labor Party because they'll be losing votes both to the right and to the left.
Lucy Hough· Host0:16
No, I'm not going to walk away and plunge the country into chaos.
Alexandra Topping· Guest0:20
I think what was clear was he was quite bullish. There's no sense at the moment that he's gonna roll over. I think you can't underestimate the Reform machine.
Lucy Hough· Host0:27
So it's a big, big day. The Greens, but it's a really symbolic victory.
Alexandra Topping· Guest0:32
Two-party politics is not just dying, it is dead and it is buried.
Lucy Hough· Host0:36
Nigel Farage has hailed a historic shift in British politics as his Reform UK party wins big in the local elections. And despite huge losses for Labor, the prime minister insists he's not going anywhere. From The Guardian's Today in Focus, this is the latest with me, Lucy Hough. Well, I'm joined by Alexandra Topping, our political correspondent. Thanks for being with us. Let's see- Thanks for having me ... I hope you got some sleep last night. I managed about a 2:00 AM-er and then I forced myself to go to sleep 'cause it was- Yeah, I got, I got some ... Some, yeah. Some is enough. Uh, but what we've woken up to, and we're speaking at about lunchtime, at 1:00 on Friday, so lots still to emerge. We're about a third of the way through. But this broad picture of major losses for Labor- Mm-hmm ... but perhaps not catastrophic, and a huge surge for Reform. So let's look at the sort of overall picture as it stands.
Alexandra Topping· Guest1:28
I mean, like you said, I think it's a really complex