Latest news with #Miners'Gala
Daily Mirror
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mirror
Keir Starmer urged to listen to voters amid Labour anger over by-election loss to Reform
Keir Starmer said Labour understood people's frustrations and vowed to go 'further and faster' to bring about change after a bruising local election night saw Reform make gains Keir Starmer has been urged to listen to voters after Reform UK seized control of a Labour stronghold in a dramatic by-election win. Nigel Farage 's party won Runcorn and Helsby by just six votes after a recount, overturning Labour's 14,696 majority to elect Sarah Pochin as their fifth MP. The right-wing outfit also swept to victory in local elections across England, winning hundreds of seats off the Tories who saw their vote squeezed by Reform on the right and the Liberal Democrats on the left. Reform also took control of Durham Council in a bitter blow to Labour's hopes of winning back the local authority, which it lost control of in 2021 for the first time in a century. The area, which elected six Labour MPs at the General Election, was at the centre of the Miners' Strike of the 1980s and is home to the annual Miners' Gala. Labour held onto a trio of mayoralties in Doncaster, the West of England and North Tyneside. But Doncaster's Labour Mayor Ros Jones - whose majority was slashed to just 698 after a battle with Reform - slammed the PM over cuts to the winter fuel allowance, rise in employers' national insurance contributions and benefit cuts. She said Labour 'need to be listening to the man, woman and businesses on the street, and actually deliver for the people, with the people.' The Prime Minister said Labour understood people's frustrations and vowed to go "further and faster" to bring about change. He said: "What I want to say is, my response is we get it. We were elected last year to bring about change." He added Labour have "started that work" with changes such as reductions in NHS waiting lists. "I am determined that we will go further and faster on the change that people want to see," he added. "The reason that we took the tough but right decisions in the budget was because we inherited a broken economy. Maybe other prime ministers would have walked past that, pretended it wasn't there... I took the choice to make sure our economy was stable." TUC leader Paul Nowak urged Mr Starmer not to respond to the results by swinging to the right. He told the Mirror: 'Labour has nothing to gain from trying to out-Reform Reform. "It will just bleed votes in both directions. But this Government will be rewarded if it delivers the change working people are crying out for.' The results triggered a furious backlash from Labour MPs, who urged the Government to change course. Ian Byrne, MP for Liverpool West Derby, said: "If we do not improve the situation that millions of working class people find themselves in after 14 yrs of austerity, we will be rolling the red carpet out to Reform at the next General Election. "I urge the Labour leadership to now truly reflect and change course. If they do not, I genuinely fear the country will face the consequences of a far right government in four years' time. One senior Labour MP told The Mirror: 'Welfare and winter fuel absolutely dominated and I'd say it proves the NHS wedge issue doesn't work.' Another backbencher said: "Runcorn is a warning we can't ignore, doing nothing is not an option, we will end up with an extreme right wing government. The leadership needs to take their head out of the sand." And at the Trident Park shopping centre in Runcorn people spoke of their disappointment. Kerry Sutcliffe, 32, was visiting the shops after finishing the school run. She said: 'It's just been more of the same hasn't it? I think people were expecting more from them, for them to make some strong decisions. 'But nothing's changed. Bills are going up, everything is still really expensive. And they seem to be going after the easy targets. The winter fuel allowance cut made a lot of people very angry. Taking money from people who are struggling.' Pensioner Kath Lee, 72, said: 'The cut to the fuel allowance was a bad move. They need to listen to what people are saying. I feel worse off now than I did a year ago.' 'Labour is meant to be the party for all the people, but they just seem to be making more cuts. It's just like the Tories, nothing's changed. It's always been Labour around here, this shows how disappointed everyone is.' The biggest losers from Reform's march were the Tories, who shed hundreds of seats and lost Staffordshire, Lincolnshire, Kent, Nottinghamshire, Lancashire and Derbyshire councils to Mr Farage. Mr Farage declared: "[These elections] mark the beginning of the end of the Conservative Party." Humiliated Tory leader Kemi Badenoch apologised to ousted councillors, saying: "We have a big job to do to rebuild trust with the public." However there was one bright spot for the party as ex-MP Paul Bristow was elected mayor in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. Elections expert Professor Sir John Curtice said Reform would have won 30% of the vote if the results were replicated in a general election. His projected vote share analysis for the BBC put Labour on 20%, the Liberal Democrats on 17% and the Tories languishing on 15%. Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey said: 'Lifelong Conservative voters have put their faith in the Liberal Democrats because they are appalled by the Conservatives lurching to the extremes and cosying up to Nigel Farage. 'Kemi Badenoch sneered at the Liberal Democrats for being the party that will fix your church roof. Today voters across the country have chosen our community politics over the Conservative Party's neglect and disdain.' Reform also elected its first two mayors with former boxer and Olympic medallist Luke Campbell winning the new Hull & East Yorkshire post and Tory defector Dame Andrea Jenkyns was victorious in Greater Lincolnshire. Other candidates walked out of her victory speech as she said asylum seekers should be forced to live in tents. Dame Andrea complained about being accused of being "parachuted in" to the seat by a rival with a South African accent - and then stormed out of a Sky News interview when asked why her opponent's accent was relevant.
Daily Mirror
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mirror
Reform UK win symbolic Labour area in bitter blow for Keir Starmer
Reform UK has delivered another bitter blow to Keir Starmer as the party won control of Durham council - a totemic Labour area. Labour lost control of Durham council back in 2021 for the first time in a century and had been hoping to win back ground at the ballot box this week. But Reform candidates sweeped a majority on the council and took control on Friday. The area, which elected six Labour MPs at last year's General Election, was at the centre of the Miners' Strike of the 1980s and is home to the annual Miners' Gala. It will be another difficult result for Mr Starmer after a bruising defeat at the Runcorn and Helsby by-election to Nigel Farage's Reform UK in the early hours of Friday morning. The party fell short by just six votes - one of the closest parliamentary votes ever - to Reform's new MP Sarah Pochin who took the seat. The Runcorn and Helsby by-election ran alongside local elections and was triggered after former Labour MP Mike Amesbury quit after admitting punching a constituent. Amesbury won 53% of the vote at the general election - and the defeat, along with Reform gains in other Labour heartlands, will cause unease in Downing Street. Responding to the defeat on Friday, Mr Starmer said the result was "disappointing" - but insisted he is determined to go "further and faster" in delivering change. The PM told voters: "What I want to say is, my response is we get it. We were elected last year to bring about change." He added Labour have "started that work" with changes such as reductions in NHS waiting lists, and he went on: "I am determined that we will go further and faster on the change that people want to see." Reform UK took control of Staffordshire County Council after taking eight further seats when counting resumed on Friday to reach 32. It gave Mr Farage's party a majority on the council with Conservatives taking six seats, with a further 24 still to be announced. The Conservatives previously controlled the council with 53 seats, with Labour on five and four independents. In a bruising set of results, Kemi Badenoch's Tories also lost control of Devon council amid gains by Liberal Democrats and Reform UK. Posting on X, the Conservative leader said: "These were always going to be a very difficult set of elections coming off the high of 2021, and our historic defeat last year - and so it's proving. "The renewal of our party has only just begun and I'm determined to win back the trust of the public and the seats we've lost, in the years to come."
BBC News
20-04-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Can Reform beat Labour in County Durham's local elections?
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage says he is parking his party's tanks on Labour's lawns as he senses an opportunity to win a slew of council seats in the local elections on 1 nowhere would be more symbolic of that boast than winning big in County Durham. It is the home of the annual Miners' Gala, after all, a parade of working-class pride and heritage that Labour would like to think sums up its traditional it was in a speech in a working men's club in Newton Aycliffe in Durham that Farage made his intention to park his tanks and win over Labour voters was his second visit to the county in a week and although he has refused to make predictions on how many councillors he may have after polling day, privately some of his candidates are dreaming of getting the 50 wins needed to take control. That would be some only Reform UK councillors to sit on Durham County Council were four former Conservatives who defected in the dying days of the current council. But this could be a perfect scenario for Reform UK to is already a wounded beast in County the last county election in 2021, the party failed to get a majority in the council chamber for the first time in a were signs of a comeback last July when the party won all six parliamentary seats in Sir Keir Starmer's landslide General Election win, but any feel-good factor disappeared rapidly as Labour lost ground in the it became clear this would be another tough local election year. 'Neglected voters' But Reform UK also has another target - the coalition of Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and independents that has run Durham County Council since well as attacking Labour, Reform's leaflets have accused the administration of waste and failure."Durham is broken," according to the Farage has also been on the attack against the coalition, but Reform UK believes County Durham's traditional loyalties have been of their candidates is former GB News presenter Darren Grimes, who has returned to where he grew up to fight for a council seat."You could put a donkey with a red rosette on it at one point and it would win," Grimes said."But no-one I know is voting Labour now. They are in really dire straits because they have neglected voters here for much too long."What we are hearing is that we are going to do very well and County Hall better be ready because we are going to get the auditors in and make sure every penny is being spent wisely." But the different groups running the council believe their track record in the last four years shows they can be trusted to remain in Democrat Amanda Hopgood has been its leader since 2021, and says the coalition has shown what life after Labour can be like."We came in on the back of an unpopular 100 years of Labour control with them not listening to residents," Hopgood said."What we've done is come in and delivered what we promised."We've seen four years of growth as a county, we've got 8,000 more jobs than four years ago and we've delivered investment here at a level never seen before." And the council's Conservative deputy leader, Richard Bell, said Reform UK's accusations of waste were nonsense."I'm in charge of finance, and although budgets have been very tight over the years, we've looked to make efficiencies, and we've managed to protect frontline services," Bell said."So I think Conservative councils, or Conservative-influenced councils, are certainly well run."The leader of one of the independent groupings that joined the administration said they have also contributed to a successful John Shuttleworth said: "When you're an independent person, not tied to any party, you can say your piece and make your own mind up."You're not governed by the whip. [The coalition] has worked reasonably well. There have been no fall-outs of any description." 'Time for change' But Labour has criticised the controlling groups for raising council tax and accused them of failing to invest in the poorest communities. The party's candidates insist that on the doorstep, the reception is not as hostile as their opponents leader Councillor Carl Marshall said: "I think it's time for change. "County Durham can look forward with a bit of optimism to what Labour are going to deliver if we are successful."That's going to include tackling issues with off-road bikes, anti-social behaviour, working to bring investment back to our high streets and putting the council back where it should be in the community."Another political party looking to make gains - the Green Party- believes it is insurgents and not previous incumbents who are best only current councillor, Jonathan Elmer, says it is clear voters are looking somewhere other than Labour for change."We know when we ask the question on the doorstep that people are choosing Greens and Reform, and Reform not because they believe in their far-right agenda, but because they are protesting about mainstream politics," Elmer said."My message is if you elect a Green councillor, that's a sensible protest vote, you're actually getting somebody who's going to work hard week in and week out." So competition in County Durham is fierce. Apart from Nigel Farage, the county has also had recent campaign visits from Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey, Green co-leader Carla Denyer and Labour's Culture Secretary Lisa there is no question that Reform UK is shaking up this race, and has party knows strong gains would add to the sense of trepidation many northern "red wall" Labour MPs are already we have been here and the Brexit Party both threatened to break the mould in the North, but then faded away. There is a confidence about Nigel Farage this time, though, because with both Labour and the Conservatives struggling, he is sitting should Reform UK perform as they hope - and actually have to run councils - rhetoric could meet Farage has promised Elon Musk-style efficiency measures - Doges (Departments of Government Efficiency) for councils - to slash spending and transform local government tax payers in places like County Durham would no doubt welcome an end to rising bills, but as anyone who has run a local authority knows, a majority of the money is spent on social care, and room for manoeuvre beyond that is strictly Labour is finding in government, being the incumbents and facing tough choices is not a recipe for we will have to wait till after polling day to see whether Reform UK will move from insurgency to power in Labour's heartlands. Follow BBC North East on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
