The 2026 Elections: How Britain's Political Landscape Is Changing
- Ben Landricombe
- May 10
- 4 min read
On Thursday voters in England, Wales and Scotland took to the polls in the largest set of elections since the 2024 general election.
Voters in parts of England elected their local council members. In Wales, voters chose members of the Senedd, while in Scotland, voters cast their ballots to elect their MSPs.
In this edition of The Informed Generation, we break down the results of the elections in each country and explore what this might mean for the UK’s broader political landscape.
England
The results of the 136 English council elections show Labour to be the biggest losers. Following Thursday’s elections, the Labour Party won 1,063 seats, a loss of 1,492, and lost control of 38 councils. This has cemented the immense pressure both on the Labour party as a collective but more specifically Sir Keir Starmer and his position as Prime Minister.
Although these council elections have no influence on the makeup of the house of commons, pressure on the PM from his own MP’s has increased.
On Saturday, Labour MP Catherine West called on the Labour Party to peacefully select a new prime minister without holding a leadership election, warning that otherwise she would launch a direct challenge on Monday.
The largest winner from these council elections was the Reform Party, gaining 1451 council seats and securing majorities in 14 councils. Reform gained councils in historic red wall locations such as Sunderland which had been under Labour control since 1974. Nigel Farage, leader of the Reform Party, has called the results of these elections a "historical shift” for UK politics.
However, despite Reform taking large gains they still hold fewer council seats than the Liberal Democrats, the Conservatives and Labour. Reform now controls 6% of councils in the UK, representing big improvement but not total domination.
The Conservatives lost 563 seats, losing control of 9 council majorities. Despite this, the conservatives did make gains in Westminster elections taking control of the council from the Labour Party. Although losing 8 councils directly to Reform, Conservative party leader Kemi Badencoch has claimed the Tories are “coming back”.
The Liberal Democrats won large numbers of council seats and also gained control of West Surrey, East Surrey, Portsmouth, and Stockport, leaving them with a net gain of one council overall.
Finally, the Green Party won 437 council seats gaining control of 5 councils. Despite some critics arguing that the Greens underperformed compared to their pre-election prospects, party leader Zack Polanski has claimed that two party politics is officially “dead and buried”.
These elections are an indication that the historical two party system that we have seen in the UK is beginning to break down. For the first time in recent history 5 UK political parties are now polling at above 15 percent each.
This move towards a multiparty system could lead to changes in UK politics with the emergence of potential coalition or minority governance in the future.
There were 64 no party majority councils in the UK following Thursday's elections, this is a gain of 23 from the last set of council elections. This could represent an image of national voting intention, demonstrating how the two party system could be beginning to fall away.
Wales
This year the Welsh Senedd expanded from its previous 60 seats to its new 96 seat format. In addition to this, Wales has moved from its original additional member system, using Westminster style first past the post voting, to a new proportional system. This system means the Welsh electorate now no longer vote for 2 candidates, instead voting for 1 candidate with seats then being shared out based on how many votes each
party receives.
The results of these elections have seen big gains for both Plaid Cymru and the Reform Party.
Plaid Cymru, the Welsh nationalist party, won 43 seats, 6 seats less than the required 49 Majority. In second place Reform won 34 seats representing the first time that the party had ever won seats in Wales.
Once again however Labour was the biggest loser. The party suffered a historic defeat, losing a Welsh national election for the first time in 100 years.
Although Plaid Cymru have said they will not push for an independence referendum during this term, leader Rhun ap Iorwerth has said a referendum is in the future of Wales. A loss for labour to Plaid Cymru potentially represents a shift in the electorate away from wanting power to be centralised in Westminster.
Scotland
In Scotland, the SNP won the largest number of seats for the fifth election in a row (58); however, they did not win enough seats to form a majority.
Seats were divided fairly evenly between other parties with Reform and Labour winning 17 seats, the Scottish Greens winning 15, the Conservatives winning 12 and the Liberal Democrats winning 10.
John Swinney has said he will hold formal coalition talks in Holyrood with all major parties except Reform. The Greens and the Lib dems appear to be the front runners following successful budget negotiations earlier this year.
Swinney told reporters at an Edinburgh conference that: "It is vital that we unite in Scotland to ensure our parliament is fully Farage-proofed.
While these elections have no direct effect for Labour in Westminster, the ramifications of the results appear to show more bad news for Kier Starmer.
Concrete support for both Reform and the Greens has materialised across the country. This squeezes the Labour party from both directions as they leak votes to both their left and their right.
In addition to dwindling public support, Keir Starmer now has to deal with strengthened opposition, huge losses in devolved nations and a party that is splitting and calling for him to resign.
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