Starmer just doesn't "get it" after Reform puts Labour on the canvas

"The public wants us to go further and faster," says defiant UK Prime Minister

By Gary Chappell

AS THE dust settles on the 2025 local elections, one truth is unmistakable: Britain’s political centre did not just shift it imploded. While Reform UK surged to an unprecedented 677 council seats and 10 councils, Labour haemorrhaged votes across its former heartlands. But Keir Starmer? He is too busy adjusting his tie to notice the building is on fire.

Reform UK did not just win, they won where it hurt. They tore through Red Wall territory Labour assumed was permanently theirs. County Durham, once a Labour fortress, now waves a Reform flag. In Runcorn and Helsby, Labour lost by six votes, a loss that symbolises more than a recount could ever fix.

Starmer told reporters that he “gets it”, before going to on to deliver a response which showed he anything but gets it. He said: “I could stand here and say Runcorn was close, we successfully defended three mayoralties, and the opposition parties tend to do well in these sorts of elections. But I’m not going to do that. What I am going to do is to respond by saying: I get it.

“But the message I take out of these elections is that we need to go further and we need to go faster on the change people want to see. And that’s what I’m determined to do.”

Go further and faster on policies the public clearly detest?

Nigel Farage, meanwhile, called the night the ‘death of two-party politics’. He might be right. Reform is far from polished and clearly has problems – the spat involving Rupert Lowe is a case in point – but they are speaking directly to a public that feels abandoned, lied to and laughed at.

Labour had a decade to reclaim the trust of working-class Britain. Instead, they offered manager-speak, U-turns, and a party leadership that seems more comfortable in Davos than Doncaster.

What happened on May 1 was not a protest vote. It was a political warning shot.

Not that the mainstream media appeared to be paying attention. Unless of course they did and tried to direct eyes in a different direction.

The BBC buried the scale of Labour’s losses under waffle about “mixed results”. Guardian columnists offered therapy-tier excuses about “voter confusion”. No mention of Starmer’s policies on benefits or immigration – just vibes and deflection.

The Press still treats Labour like the grown-ups in the room, even as the floor caves in. Luckily, more and more people are seeing through it all.