Less than 24 hours after polling closed in the recent council and devolved government elections in England, Wales and Scotland, the Labour Party and the political class in Westminster, were having a nervous breakdown about the election results.

Uppermost in their concerns was the performance of the Reform Party across the three nations and particularly the gains they made in traditional Labour areas. With 5,000 seats up for grabs across 156 councils, including the 32 London boroughs, Labour lost 1,229 seats, retaining 1,068; Conservatives lost 433 seats and won 801; the Green Party gained 393 seats, bringing their overall total to 587; the Liberal Democrats won 142 seats, making their total 844 and Reform gained 1,372 seats, bringing their total to 1,454. Labour lost control of 37 councils and the Conservatives eight. The Liberal Democrats gained overall control of three councils, the Greens, five and Reform, 14.

This came less than three months after Labour suffered a shocking defeat in the Gorton and Denton by-election on February 26 when it lost for the first time since 1931.  The Green Party’s Hannah Spencer won the seat with 14,980 votes, with Reform’s Matt Goodwin, coming second with 10,578 votes, pushing Labour into third place with 9,364 votes.