Local elections 'devastating' for Labour, says top pollster

Labour is being rejected in its heartlands as disappointment among voters about the party's first 10 months in office has opened the door to Reform, Professor Sir John Curtice has warned.

- DAVID MADDOX

The leading pollster says that the “devastating” local election results have shown Labour support is “in freefall” and voters lost to Reform and the Greens “are not likely to return to the party any time soon”.

He also suggested that Labour MPs are now right to fear Reform and Nigel Farage more than Kemi Badenoch and the Tories, with the beleaguered Conservative Party leader already facing plots to have her removed.

Sir John’s warning comes as Luke Tryl, executive director of polling organisation More in Common, has warned that the Tories have just 12 months to turn things around before being consigned to irrelevance.

His warning came after The Independent revealed that Conservative MPs are already plotting to remove leader Kemi Badenoch. The revelation led to newly elected Tory mayor for Peterborough and Cambridgeshire, Paul Bristow, the only success story for the party this week, demanding plotters “just stop it!”

Meanwhile, Labour’s woes are set to get worse amid revelations that Mr Farage intends to use Reform’s control of 10 councils to launch a series of taxpayer-funded legal challenges on net zero policies and the housing of migrants to tie Sir Keir Starmer’s government in knots.

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