Nigel Farage warned that Labour is facing an “existential” threat ahead of the local elections. The Reform UK leader highlighted traditional strongholds such as London, the West Midlands, the North West, North East and South Wales where Sir Keir Starmer’s party could be largely wiped out in the crunch May ballots.
He said Labour is being squeezed by Reform on the right and Zack Polanski’s Green Party on the left.
Mr Farage told the press conference: “The Labour Party is in bigger trouble than anyone’s realised, because you’re going to see inner-city populations, areas with big Muslim populations, areas with big student populations … you can think of four or five London boroughs this year in which Labour are going to be wiped out.
“But then go further north, go into the West Midlands, go up to the North West, go to the North East, go to South Wales, and you will find very large numbers of people who’ve been Labour families for generations who are going to vote Reform.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer (Image: Getty)
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“So the Labour Party is facing, I genuinely believe, despite the massive win at the last general election, that what the Labour Party is facing is existential and I think that will be one of the many interesting results that come out on the night of May 7.
“On South Wales just think about it, you go back to Keir Hardie, Merthyr Tydfil, 1890s, you go on to giant figures in the Labour movement, Nye Bevan, Michael Foot, Neil Kinnock and so on.
“And they’ve basically held those seats since 1918 and if you believe the opinion polls they’re now on 10% so that’s where Polanski’s having a real impact.”
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage (Image: GETTY)
It comes as Labour is expected to face a bloodbath at the May ballots, which are the biggest since the 2024 general election.
The party’s poll ratings have nosedived since Sir Keir entered 10 Downing Street less than two years ago.
The Prime Minister is fighting to stay in No 10 amid speculation he could be ousted after the local elections on May 7.
Nigel Farage Names the Places Where Labour Faces ‘Wipeout’ in Nightmare for Keir Starmer
Nigel Farage has pointed to a series of traditional Labour areas where he believes the party could face further major losses, following a dramatic set of local election results that reshaped Britain’s political map.
The results of the 2026 local elections provided Reform UK with substantial gains across England, particularly in areas that have historically formed part of Labour’s electoral heartlands. Labour, meanwhile, suffered significant losses, including the loss of control of several councils.
For Sir Keir Starmer, the results represented a serious political warning. For Farage, they offered evidence that Reform UK was no longer simply competing for Conservative votes but was beginning to make substantial inroads into communities that had traditionally supported Labour.
The scale of the change was particularly visible in northern England.
Among the areas affected were Hartlepool, Tameside, Wigan, Halton, Sunderland and other parts of the North West and North East. The pattern was not uniform, but the overall direction was unmistakable: Reform gained substantial numbers of council seats while Labour lost hundreds.
According to ITV News, Reform gained 1,244 councillors and 114 councils during the English local elections, while Labour lost 1,022 councillors and 31 councils. Reform took control of councils including Sunderland, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Havering, Essex and Suffolk.
These figures help explain why Farage has spoken about a fundamental change in British politics.
One of the most striking developments occurred in areas that were once considered exceptionally secure for Labour.
In Wigan, for example, Reform won 24 of the 25 seats being contested. Twenty-two of those seats had previously belonged to Labour. The council remained under Labour control because not all seats were contested in the election, but the scale of the shift was nevertheless significant.
Wigan is particularly symbolic because it represents the type of post-industrial community that has historically been central to Labour’s electoral identity.
For decades, the political assumption was that Labour’s connection with these communities was strong enough to survive changes in national leadership. The 2019 general election demonstrated that this assumption could no longer be taken for granted, when many traditional Labour constituencies voted Conservative.
The 2026 local elections showed another stage of that transformation, with Reform becoming a significant competitor in several of those same communities.
Tameside provided another striking example.
Labour had controlled the council for 47 years, but the party lost its majority after Reform gained 18 of the 19 seats contested. The result left the authority under no overall control.
The political significance of Tameside goes beyond the council itself. The area is associated with Angela Rayner, one of Labour’s most prominent figures, making the result especially noteworthy within Labour circles.
Elsewhere in Greater Manchester, Wigan also suffered a major shift in the balance of power, while Labour faced losses in other traditional strongholds.
In the North East, Hartlepool was another important example.
Reform won all 12 seats being contested there, pushing the council into no overall control. Hartlepool had long been associated with Labour politics, although its political history had already been transformed by the Brexit referendum and subsequent elections.
Sunderland was perhaps even more symbolically important.
Labour had controlled the city for decades, but Reform emerged as a major force in the 2026 elections. Farage had deliberately chosen Sunderland as the location for Reform’s local election campaign launch, highlighting its importance as a traditional Labour stronghold and a heavily pro-Brexit area.
The choice of Sunderland reflected the broader strategy behind Reform’s campaign.
Rather than presenting itself solely as a party of southern Conservative voters, Reform sought to build support among working-class communities in the North and Midlands.
This strategy appears to have produced tangible results.
The Guardian’s analysis found that Labour suffered losses to Reform in England while also losing support to the Greens in other areas. It described the 2026 results as the worst local election performance for Labour on record, with Labour’s representation falling dramatically in numerous councils.
That distinction is important.
Labour’s difficulties cannot simply be explained by a single movement of voters toward Reform.
The party faced competition from different directions.
In some constituencies and councils, voters moved toward Reform. In others, the Greens gained ground. The Liberal Democrats also made gains, while national political dynamics varied considerably between England, Scotland and Wales.
The result was a fragmented electoral landscape in which Labour could no longer rely on a single opposition party dividing the vote in its favour.
For Starmer, this presents a complicated political challenge.
If Labour moves sharply to the right in response to Reform’s success, it risks alienating voters who prefer the party’s traditional progressive positions. But if it refuses to address issues that have helped Reform gain support, it risks allowing Farage’s party to continue making inroads into communities where Labour once had deep-rooted support.
Immigration is one of the issues at the centre of this political competition.
Reform has made tighter immigration controls a central part of its political message. Farage has repeatedly argued that voters are frustrated by the scale of immigration and believe successive governments have failed to control Britain’s borders.
However, the reasons behind Labour’s losses are broader than immigration alone.
Economic pressures, public services, housing, local government performance, crime and perceptions of political competence can all influence local voting behaviour.
Local elections also have their own dynamics. Voters sometimes use them to express dissatisfaction with the national government rather than to endorse every aspect of an opposition party’s programme.
That is one reason why the 2026 results should be interpreted carefully.
The results undeniably demonstrate substantial electoral movement, but they do not automatically establish that every voter who abandoned Labour has permanently transferred allegiance to Reform.
Indeed, subsequent polling has shown that political support remains fluid.
The political environment later in 2026 has not simply continued in a straight line from the May local elections. Ipsos reported in August that Labour had moved ahead of Reform in its voting-intention measure, while Opinium’s September poll also placed Labour ahead of Reform. These measurements underline how quickly voting intentions can change.
That volatility is one of the defining characteristics of contemporary British politics.
Farage’s argument is nevertheless significant because it highlights a fundamental change in the political geography of Britain.
The traditional divide between Labour’s working-class heartlands and Conservative territory has weakened substantially.
Brexit accelerated that transformation. The 2019 general election reinforced it. The 2026 local elections provided further evidence that voters in northern and post-industrial communities are willing to consider parties other than Labour.
The question now is whether these changes represent a temporary protest or a more permanent restructuring of British politics.
For Reform, maintaining support in these areas will require more than winning elections.
The party now controls or influences a growing number of councils and therefore faces the practical challenge of governing. Its performance in local government will be scrutinised by voters who may judge it on council finances, public services, local taxation, roads, planning and other everyday issues.
This is particularly important because Reform’s rise has moved the party from protest politics into positions of direct administrative responsibility.
Durham provides a useful example of the difficulties that can follow electoral success. Reform won a large majority of seats there in 2025, but by 2026 the administration had faced resignations, internal disputes and financial pressures. Those developments have become part of the wider debate over whether Reform can translate electoral momentum into effective local government.
For Labour, meanwhile, the challenge is equally substantial.
The party must rebuild trust in communities where it once assumed long-term support.
The losses in Wigan, Tameside, Hartlepool, Sunderland and other areas demonstrate that historic loyalties are no longer sufficient protection.
But the political landscape remains unsettled.
Reform’s gains do not guarantee permanent control of Labour heartlands, just as Labour’s historic strength does not guarantee an automatic return to previous levels of support.
British voters are increasingly willing to move between parties.
That means Farage’s warnings about potential Labour losses should be understood in the context of a much broader transformation.
The old political map is being replaced by something more competitive and unpredictable.
Labour faces pressure from Reform on the right and the Greens on the left, while the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats continue to compete for different sections of the electorate.
For Starmer, the central challenge is therefore not simply defending individual councils.
It is rebuilding a coalition of voters across a country where traditional party identities have weakened.
For Farage, the opportunity is to demonstrate that Reform can maintain the support it has gained and convert local victories into a broader political presence.
The 2026 local elections have shown that places once regarded as Labour strongholds can change dramatically.
Whether those changes become permanent remains a question for future elections.
But one fact is already clear: the political assumptions that governed Britain’s electoral map for generations can no longer be taken for granted.