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 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 , 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.

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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 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 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."

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