Nigel Farage’s Reform Party Surges in English Local Elections

Labour and Tory “Conservatives” Crushed Counter-Indicative for Ukraine War Support

Of the 23 local English Council elections held on May 1, Nigel Farage’s Reform Party gained majority control of 10 Councils, along with two mayors and a seat in Parliament, bringing their number of MPs to five. Nigel Farage was the leader of the Brexit Referendum that got the UK out of the European Union. Farage and his Reform Party are traditional conservatives. The British “Conservative” or Tory Party has for decades become too liberal and too globalist to merit the description of “conservative.” The Reform Party gain in elected Council Members in the 23 local Council elections went from zero to 677. This matches closely the “Conservative” loss of 676 seats in the election. In fact, the “Conservatives” lost their  majorities in all of the 15 Councils they previously held.  

The Liberal Democrat gain accounts for about 88 percent of the Labour loss, Labour having become increasingly radicalized and out of favor with ordinary British working people. The Liberal Democrats picked up majorities on three Councils. The Greens  more than doubled their vote, and that gain came out of Labour. However, the Greens are still the smallest significant British Party, bringing their total in the 23 Councils to slightly less than 5 percent

These 23 English Councils represent only a fraction of local Councils in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, totaling 372, but most British political observers consider these election results to be a significant harbinger of dramatic changes in British politics. It is obvious that both Labour and “Conservative” constituents have had a dramatic loss of confidence in Labour and “Conservative” leadership.  Moreover, Nigel Farage and his Reform Party are surging in the polls.

These Councils were predominantly in conservative Midland English counties but also included Cornwall and Devon in the southeast, Kent in the south, and northeastern counties like York,  Durham, and  Northumberland.

Below are the detailed results of the combined 23 Council elections:

Reformed UK                         677      Gain of 677  from zero.  Proportion elected 41%

Liberal Democrat                    370      Gain of 163.  Gain 79%  Proportion elected 23%

Conservatives                          317      Loss of 676.  Loss 68%  Proportion elected 19%

Labour                                    99        Loss of 186   Loss 65%  Proportion elected   6%

Independent                            89        Loss of 20.    Loss 18%  Proportion elected   5%

Greens                                    80        Gain of 45.   Gain 129% Proportion elected   5%     

Total Council Seats                 1,632  

For future reference, here are the leaders of the UK’s five largest parties:

Reformed Uk                          Nigel Farage

Liberal Democrat                    Ed Davey

Conservatives                          Olukemi (Kemi) Badenoch

Labour                                     Keir Starmer, current Prime Minister

Greens                                     Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay

Current Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer won election in 2024 with 411 of 650 seats in the House of Commons. A majority of 326 is required to govern. He currently has 403.

Adjusting for population and voting proportions of past British elections, BBC commentators estimated the 41 percent result for Reformed UK in the 23 Councils voting May1 would project to 30 percent in the UK total. The Reformed Party and Nigel Farage would still place first, but would need support from the Liberal Democrats or Conservatives, plus a few independents to form a government with Nigel Farage as Prime Minister.

The BBC projection of the May 1 results for 23 Councils over the entire UK would be Reformed UK 30%, Labour 20%, Liberal Democrat 17%,  Conservatives 15%, Greens 11%, and others 7%.

However, if the Labour and Conservative parties continue to collapse, either the Reformed or Liberal Democrat party could emerge as the leader. Regardless, UK elections should become more conservative.  London, Scotland, and Wales have been the most Labour oriented in the past.  The British “Conservative” Party is likely to collapse even further against Nigel Farage because Farage is a strong, genuinely traditionalist conservative candidate, and the Tories have become wannabe liberals. They have lost the anchor of a conservative vision and currently lack experienced leadership.  

According to a UK poll published by politicalpulse.net on April 21, Starmer had a 23 percent approval rating, and Farage had a 27 percent approval rating. Badenoch had 16 percent. Davey was not included in the poll. Three polls (YouGov, More-in-Common, and Focaldata), in mid-April showed Starmer with an average approval rating of 23 percent and average disapproval rating of 57 percent. They were related to energy costs and a failing economy. Both are related to Starmer’s strong support for the Ukraine War.  

While the British media is overwhelmingly supportive of Ukraine’s proxy war against Russia, Nigel Farage and the genuinely conservative Reform Party are increasingly skeptical. Farage’s knowledge of the war recognizes that American and British intervention in Ukrainian politics in 2014, overthrowing an elected government, introducing cultural cleansing policies against the 38 percent  Russian ethnic minority,  and causing a civil war, was the real cause and beginning of the war. There is even significant dissent in the Labour Party against British involvement in Ukraine. However, Ed Davey of the Liberal Democrats, clearly supports an aggressively pro-Ukraine and anti-Putin, anti-Russian British foreign policy and is often critical of Farage’s understanding of the war.  “Conservative” Party leader Kemi Badenoch follows the anti-Russian party line of her former mentor, Prime Minister Boris Johnson, which thus far has proved a military, humanitarian, demographic, political, and economic disaster for Ukraine and considerable economic hardship to the UK, Germany, France, the Netherlands, and several other European Union nations.

According to a YouGov first quarter 2025 poll, Farage is now the most popular UK public figure with a 36 percent rating. Ed Davey of the Liberal Democrats was fifth with 18 percent. No other candidate comes closer than 11 percent—and they are Green. However, Davey should probably benefit from the strong showing of the Liberal Democrat in the May 1 election, and he has thus far a low unfavorable rating.

The same concern about the economy, energy supplies and costs, and de-industrialization are showing up in German and Rumanian elections. The incumbent German and Rumanian response has been to try to outlaw or stigmatize conservative parties as dangerously radical.  

Western Europe is in a struggle to reestablish and maintain the conservative foundations that have made Western Civilization prosperous, free, and influential.  The May1 local election results in England signal a welcome revolution is on the march.  

“This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.” - William Shakespeare, Richard II