Reform UK sweeps local elections as Labour and Tories slump

Reform UK sweeps the British local elections: Labour and Tories on the brink of collapse

Nigel Farage's populist party has delivered a hammer blow in the partial local elections in England. With 80% of councils counted (110 of 136), Reform UK is clearly winning in former Labour and Conservative strongholds in the north and centre of the country, including London districts where it had until now been marginal. The rout of Keir Starmer's Labour Party, whose approval rating stands at around 21% according to internal polls, leaves the governing party in a critical position. The Conservatives, for their part, are relegated to third place in many constituencies, even overtaken by Farage's party.

The end of two-party politics: new cycle or mirage?

The comparison with Spain's Vox is inevitable: Reform UK channels discontent over immigration, European bureaucracy (even though Brexit is already a done deal) and the lack of affordable housing. Yet not everyone sees Farage as a saviour. Critics within the right-wing spectrum itself accuse him of betraying his promises: they point out that his party would be allowing immigrant workers in and backtracking on mass deportations, while more radical options such as Restore Britain gain ground among the disillusioned.

The striking figure: 5,000 council seats at stake

More than 5,000 council seats were contested across England, and Reform UK's advance is no anecdote. The fragmentation of the right-wing vote and the demobilisation of Labour voters open up a scenario of ungovernability reminiscent of other European democracies. Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats — whom many had written off after the scandal of the MP married to a Spanish woman and his lucrative post at Facebook — are holding on, to everyone's surprise.

Farage, a second alucinación around the world?

Farage already made history by driving Brexit. Now, with Reform UK overtaking the Conservatives in voting intention, talk is of a second major milestone. The irony does not go unnoticed: the party's name evokes the Reform Club of Phileas Fogg, the exclusive London club from which Jules Verne's character bet he could travel around the world in 80 days. The difference is that, this time, Farage's bet is not a literary one: the political future of the United Kingdom is at stake.

With the count not yet closed, the British electoral map is turning an unfamiliar colour. The question hanging in the air is whether this earthquake marks the start of a new cycle or is simply a temporary punishment for the mediocrity of the big parties. For now, the numbers speak for themselves.