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Why UK’s Makerfield by-election matters far beyond one parliamentary seat

2024 general election in a landslide, Labour’s popularity has tanked over the past two years as support for the far-right, anti-immigration Reform UK has soared. In council elections last month, Reform [swept

Lib Dems can counter extremes of Reform and Greens, Davey says

elections as proof his party is best positioned to confront what he described as the “extreme populist change” offered by Reform UK and the Greens. As Labour assessed a disastrous set of results

How would a Labour leadership contest work?

2024. The polls were seen by many as a key test for Sir Keir's leadership. Labour lost almost 1,500 councillors in local elections across England amid a surge for Nigel Farage's Reform

UK elections – early results and takeaways; will Starmer have to resign?

results were “soul-destroying”, said Rebecca Long-Bailey, Labour member of parliament for Salford. While incumbent governments often struggle in mid-term elections, pollsters forecast that Labour could lose the most council seats in local

Could Lib Dems become the biggest party in English local government?

2024. But Lib Dem bosses are sanguine, convinced that UK politics is now so different, so atomised, to make headline polling almost irrelevant. One senior Lib Dem said: “A lot of people seem

Albanians in UK scapegoated by rightwing media and politicians, says ambassador

elections are looming.” Ferizi cited analysis in the [Daily Telegraph](https://www.theguardian.com/media/dailytelegraph) in 2024 which claimed that one in 50 Albanians in the UK was in prison, the worst rate of any nationality. However

John Healey’s departure is less of a surprise than it might seem

2024 election, recounting his previous experience of being in meetings with colleagues who “simply read out their departmental line rather than as government ministers with a sense of what we were trying to achieve”. Healey

Starmer under pressure as Labour suffers heavy election losses including historic Wales defeat

UK. Labour has lost more than 1,100 English council seats, including in its heartlands across northern England and the Midlands, and faces further difficult results as counting continues throughout Friday. The results are bleak

Why Welsh voters turned their backs on the Labour party

election-winning machine, but the political behemoth limped into third place this week with just nine seats in a 96-seat parliament. A new chapter in Wales’s political and cultural history has opened

Is it harder than ever to be prime minister?

result of Brexit fracturing the party and making party management impossible. The Labour Party has been strangely cursed by its loveless landside in 2024, without having a clear governing agenda to unite the party

Personal decision for Starmer on whether to fight leadership contest, minister says

2024, after sceptics said he would not be able to return Labour to power in just one term. But Nandy said last week's disastrous set of election results for Labour showed "people feel they

Healey asks Farage if any of £5m gift may have come from Russia-linked profits

UK and Farage were contacted for comment. The Guardian revealed last month that [shortly before the 2024 general election, Farage was given £5m by Harborne](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/apr/29/revealed-nigel-farage-was-given-undisclosed-5m-by-crypto-billionaire-in-2024), a British-Thai dual citizen based

UK and US voters are highly cynical. They express it differently.

UK and US voters are highly cynical. They express it differently. It’s not just football versus soccer. Britain and America share a language and deep historical ties, but their political systems are an ocean

Reform wins across northern England overturn decades of Labour control

results were ominous for several of the party’s big beasts. In Wigan, the constituency of the culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, [Reform UK](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/brexit-party) won all but one of the 25 seats

Starmer to face split cabinet as demands for his resignation mount

result of improper legal advice. Burnham, who polls most favourably of the three, would need to become an MP again. He was prevented from becoming a candidate in the February Gorton and Denton by-election

Andy Burnham: 'King of the North' with eyes on the top job

results. The only problem? He's not an MP - a requirement to stand as Labour leader. In January, he was knocked back by Labour's ruling national executive committee (NEC) when he sought to stand

New laws expected to be in the King's Speech

election results for Labour. Here is what we think will be in the speech - and a few things that won't. **EU alignment** - Sir Keir Starmer has made much of his efforts to reset post

Three-quarters of UK millionaires would be happy to pay more tax, research finds

election results](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/12/labour-mps-sign-statement-against-starmer-leadership-challenge). Some of the [economic ideas](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/12/tax-cuts-and-cost-of-living-help-proposed-by-labour-linked-groups-allied-to-streeting-and-burnham) connected to candidates such as Andy Burnham and Wes Streeting have included a rise in capital gains

UK’s Labour set for heavy losses in elections as Reform makes early gains

election is seen as a [key test of Starmer’s leadership](/news/2026/5/5/starmers-referendum-how-local-elections-could-expose-a-fractured-uk), with Labour trailing behind Reform UK in opinion polls in recent months. In response to the early results, Starmer said he would take

Bulgaria votes as pro-Russian former president leads in the polls

election to another without getting anything done,” said Bogomil Bardarski, a 72-year-old metalworker who voted in the capital, Sofia. Opinion polls on Friday suggested Radev’s Progressive Bulgaria party would secure about