London (United Kingdom), 8 May (LaPresse/AP) – Partial results from the local elections in England show heavy losses for Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour Party and a significant surge for Reform UK, the anti-establishment and anti-immigration party led by Nigel Farage. The vote is seen as a referendum on Starmer’s leadership, whose popularity has plummeted after less than two years in government. Reform UK has won hundreds of seats, particularly in the working-class areas of northern England, such as Hartlepool, and is aiming to make further gains in Scotland and Wales. Further results are expected from Labour strongholds such as London and the semi-autonomous parliaments of Scotland and Wales. According to forecasts, the Conservatives are also set to lose ground, whilst the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party are expected to make gains, particularly in urban and university centres. In Scotland and Wales, the pro-independence nationalists of the Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru remain the favourites. The vote confirms the growing fragmentation of British politics, historically dominated by Labour and the Conservatives. Weighing on the government are economic difficulties, the high cost of living, problems in public services, divisions over reforms and some of Starmer’s controversial decisions. A defeat could trigger an internal crisis within Labour, with possible challenges from figures such as Wes Streeting, Angela Rayner or Andy Burnham, although Foreign Secretary David Lammy has urged the party not to ‘change pilots mid-flight’.