UK Prime Minister Vows Closer European Ties After Labour Loses Over 1,200 Council Seats

The prime minister said forging closer ties with Europe will be at the heart of the response to Labour’s losses in this week's local elections in England. The prime minister told the Sunday Mirror that the government would be “full-throated” about the need for closer ties with Brussels.

The prime minister also vowed to lead the party into the next general election as part of a decade-long project of national renewal. Labour lost more than 1,200 council seats and relinquished control of 37 councils. The prime minister said Brexit has held back young people.

“They should be free to work, study, travel in European countries, just as I was able to when I was growing up,” the prime minister stated. The prime minister added that those opportunities “have been smashed away from young people because of Brexit” and that the government would push forward on restoring them.

Labour lost control of councils to Reform UK in areas that voted to leave the European Union in 2016, including St Helens and Sunderland. The prime minister promised “an economy that really works for everyone, wherever they live” in an apparent response to voters who felt left behind.

The Sunday Mirror reported that No 10 and the Treasury are drawing up support for families targeting fuel costs and household bills that have risen since the Iran war pushed up global oil and gas prices. A former Foreign Office junior minister has promised to launch a leadership bid on Monday unless the prime minister is removed by the Cabinet.

Around 30 Labour backbenchers have publicly suggested the prime minister should either quit or set a timetable for departure. The prime minister said: “I'm not going to walk away from the job I was elected to do in July 2024. ” The prime minister described the inherited situation as an “appalling legacy on all fronts” with broken public services that were worse than anticipated.

Labour’s losses extended to London, where the Green Party took control of its third council by winning Lewisham. The Green Party also won the Hackney mayoral election and council, and took Waltham Forest from Labour. In an interview with The Observer, the prime minister said there are not many people who want the Green Party leader or the Reform UK leader as prime minister.

The prime minister stated that the mainstream majority wants the government to provide progressive answers to daily challenges. On Saturday the prime minister gave advisory roles to two senior Labour figures, including a former prime minister as special envoy on global finance and a baroness as adviser on women and girls.