UK Election Results Show Labour Losses and Reform UK Gains

Labour has suffered losses across the country in the 2026 elections. The party saw a historic defeat in the Welsh Parliament and lost control of councils and hundreds of councillors across many areas of England. In Scotland the SNP said it will remain the largest party at Holyrood.

Reform UK performed strongly and took control of several councils in England with some results still to come in. The remaining counts are expected to declare during the rest of Friday and into Saturday. BBC News reported the developments.

Cymru has won 43 seats in Wales but finishes short of a majority. Reform is in second place with 34 seats. Welsh Labour has suffered a historic defeat, losing in Wales for the first time in over 100 years. It has seen significant losses including its leader and First Minister Eluned Morgan.

It finished third overall, ahead of the Conservatives, with the Greens taking two seats and the Liberal Democrats one. This year the Senedd is expanding from 60 to 96 seats and the boundaries have changed too. The old constituencies and regions have been replaced with 16 new constituencies, each electing six members using a system of proportional representation.

Labour held half of the seats after the last election in 2021.

With most of the constituency seats at Holyrood declared, the SNP is by far the largest party in the Parliament although its vote share is down on the 2021 election. Party leader John Swinney has also retained his Perthshire North seat. The Liberal Democrats and Conservatives are a distant second and third.

Despite picking up about 20% of votes across the country, Scottish Labour has not won many constituency seats. The Scottish Green Party's vote share has been far lower but more concentrated than Labour's, translating into two constituency seats. The region seats are still being counted.

Labour has lost control of more than 20 councils, losing several to Reform UK, one to the Conservatives, one to the Greens and the rest to no overall control. Reform UK gained councils including Sunderland, Thurrock, Suffolk, Essex, Havering and Newcastle-under-Lyme and more than 1,100 councillors across the country.

The Green Party of England and Wales have taken Norwich and Waltham Forest and Hastings councils and have gained nearly 400 councillors across England. The Lib Dems also gained councillors and took control of Portsmouth and Stockport but lost control of Hull.

The Conservatives have lost over 400 seats and control of seven councils but have gained back control of Westminster in London. There were more than 5,000 councillors up for election across 136 councils in England on Thursday, standing for a mixture of district, metropolitan, unitary and county councils as well as all London boroughs.

Labour were defending the most seats with more than 2,500, the Conservatives over 1,300, the Lib Dems just under 700 and the Greens just under 150. Most of the seats were last contested in 2022, at a time when Reform UK stood in very few areas. The Conservatives have control of five councils, gaining one.

The Lib Dems have held control of three London councils. The Greens now have one council and the mayoralties in Hackney and Lewisham. Reform UK has gained Havering.

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