‘Everything’s an issue’: Polls close with Britons poised to punish Starmer’s embattled Labour

Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - LONDON, May 8 — Polls closed across England, Scotland and Wales late yesterday, with beleaguered Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his Conservative rivals both braced for heavy losses as voters swerve to hard-right and left-wing populists.

Polling stations shut their doors at 10pm (2100 GMT/5am Malaysian time), as Starmer faced the biggest electoral test since his July 2024 general election landslide victory over the Conservatives.

Opinion polls predict grim results for centre-left Labour, which could amplify calls for the 63-year-old British leader to resign or face a long-rumoured party leadership challenge.

The prime minister and his wife voted at a polling station near parliament in Westminster.

Nigel Farage’s anti-immigrant Reform UK and the left-wing Greens, led by self-described eco-populist Zack Polanski, are expected to benefit from widespread disillusionment.

“This election will cement Reform’s position as the dominant force now in British politics,” the party’s home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf told AFP at an election night watch party buzzing with optimism.

The first results, from contests in England, were expected in the early hours of today but most will not come until later in the day.

Melanie Garson, University College London associate professor of politics, said the vote was a “huge barometer for how the country is feeling about this political establishment”.

“We’ve got, for the first time, significant pressure on the main political parties across every single council.”

Around 5,000 local council seats, out of 16,000, were up for grabs across England, while in Wales and Scotland voters will elect new devolved parliaments.

A person departs a temporary polling station set up in a Portakabin in Norbiton, southwest London on May 7, 2026. Polls opened at 7:00 am (0600 GMT) on May 7 across Scotland, England and Wales in the local ballots that are Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer's biggest electoral test since his July 2024 general election landslide victory ended 14 years of Conservative rule. — AFP pic

‘Everything’s an issue’ 

Starmer swept to power following 14 years of Conservative rule defined by austerity, Brexit and stagnant economic growth.

But critics say he has swerved from one policy misstep to another, and he has been embroiled in a scandal over Peter Mandelson, who was sacked as ambassador to Washington over his links to US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Starmer has also failed to fulfil his main promise of spurring economic growth, with impatient Britons still suffering a cost-of-living crisis, including from high energy prices.

“Just everything’s an issue. Everything — housing, pay, food, everything,” one woman arriving at a London polling station told AFP, requesting anonymity.

Starmer said Wednesday there was a “clear choice” in the vote. “Unity or division. Progress versus the politics of anger.”

Labour has also fought back, unearthing racist remarks by some Reform candidates and antisemitic comments by certain Green hopefuls.

But Starmer is now one of the most unpopular prime ministers ever, and surveys suggest Labour will lose control of the devolved Welsh government in Cardiff for the first time since Wales got its own parliament 27 years ago.

A More in Common poll published Tuesday projected Reform running neck-and-neck with the pro-independence Plaid Cymru in Labour’s former heartland.

Labour is also fearful of a drubbing in Scotland, where the Scottish National Party (SNP) is expected to extend its 19-year control of the devolved parliament in Edinburgh.

YouGov has predicted Reform could force Labour into third place there.

Scottish First Minister and SNP Leader John Swinney said late Thursday if the party won an unprecedented fifth term in power, that would unlock “the chance to choose our own future in a referendum”.

Scots rejected independence from the UK in a 2014 referendum.

A person departs a temporary polling station set up in a Portakabin in Norbiton, southwest London on May 7, 2026. Polls opened at 7:00 am (0600 GMT) on May 7 across Scotland, England and Wales in the local ballots that are Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer's biggest electoral test since his July 2024 general election landslide victory ended 14 years of Conservative rule. — AFP pic

‘Difficult’ 

Labour also looks set for big losses in London as the Greens pick up disaffected left-wingers with a pro-Gaza message.

Pollster Robert Hayward has predicted the ruling party could lose about 1,850 of the roughly 2,550 local authority seats it is defending.

Hayward has tipped Reform to take 1,550 seats from Labour and Kemi Badenoch’s right-wing Conservatives — mostly in white, working-class areas. The Conservatives are also bracing for the loss of traditional strongholds.

“People are coming to Reform... who used to vote Tory, used to vote Labour and a lot of people who’ve not voted at all before,” insisted Yusuf.

Rumours swirl 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 per cent of the party’s MPs to launch a contest.

Some Labour lawmakers are reportedly planning to demand Starmer set a date for his departure.

But he has insisted he will lead the party into the next general election, likely in 2029.

Outside a polling station in Edinburgh, Mike Coates, 85, sympathised with Starmer, who has been buffeted by US President Donald Trump, particularly over the wars in Iran and Ukraine.

“It’s difficult to keep it all together, and he has faced things abroad that are very difficult. By and large, I think he’s doing okay,” the retiree told AFP. — AFP