George Parker, Financial Times political editor, joins Pat to sift through the wreckage.
Labour received some of the worst set of results for a governing party during the UK local elections, a senior political journalist said.
Sir Keir Starmer is under mounting pressure after Labour suffered heavy losses in the UK’s local elections, with Nigel Farage’s Reform UK making major gains across traditional Labour and Conservative strongholds.
As the political map shifts dramatically, and with key results still to come, George Parker, Financial Times political editor, joins Pat to sift through the wreckage.
George Parker, Financial Times political editor, told The Pat Kenny Show on Saturday these were some of the worst set of results for a governing party with Labour losing 1,400 seats after they were defending 2 '500.
“You can see the Labour Party being obliterated in some of the working class English towns, places like Wigan or Sunderland by Farage's Reform UK”, he analysed.
“All across the UK, apart from Northern Ireland, the Labour Party has been absolutely hammered.”
He explained that the Conservative Party had also performed poorly, leading to an end to the “old two-party system in Britain”.
Despite this, he said the Conservative Party leader, Kemi Badenoch had not been in the spotlight in the way her counterpart had been.
While the UK Prime Minister has vowed not to step down and take accountability for Labour’s dismal results, Mr Parker said some members of the party may think his leadership had run its course.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in Dublin, © PA Wire/PA Images“I think immigration is a sort of lightning rod for other problems”, he told Newstalk.
“I think there was frustration that Keir Starmer was just more of the same.”
He said Reform’s Nigel Farage accepting a gift from a cryptocurrency investor was “hugely embarrassing”.
“A £5 million gift is more than many of Nigel Farage's constituents would earn in multiple lifetimes.
“It's one of the reasons why I still think that despite the headlines that Farage generates, I still think it's unlikely that he will get into number 10 in a couple of years' time.
“There are too many problems in his party.”
Main Image: UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
