ENGLAND — The Labour Party will contest local and devolved elections across England, Scotland and Wales on Thursday, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer under political pressure roughly two years after winning a landslide that ended 14 years of Conservative rule. Voters in England will elect thousands of local councillors, while voters in Scotland and Wales will elect representatives to their devolved parliaments.

Most local elections in England use the first-past-the-post system, in which the candidate with the most votes wins without requiring a majority. Under that system, candidates can win with relatively small vote shares if votes for their opponents are split. Scotland and Wales have devolved governments with powers over health and education, while Northern Ireland uses a different electoral cycle.

In an April YouGov poll, 70 percent of respondents said Starmer was doing badly as prime minister. A separate YouGov poll for The Times suggests Reform UK would be the most popular party if a general election were held now. Nigel Farage, using anti-immigrant rhetoric, has steered Reform UK into an electoral force. "They also have a group of voters who are simply attracted by anti-system politics," said John McTernan, former political secretary to UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Labour has also lost ground on its left flank. In February 2026, the Green Party, led by Zack Polanski, defeated Labour in a parliamentary by-election in a former Labour stronghold.

Starmer appointed Peter Mandelson as the UK's ambassador to the United States in December 2024. In February 2026, revelations from the Epstein files about Mandelson came to light. Starmer subsequently apologised to Jeffrey Epstein's victims, said he had been misled about Mandelson's relationship with Epstein, and said appointing him had been a mistake.

The vote in Scotland will unfold against the backdrop of a renewed independence debate. John Swinney has indicated a second Scottish independence referendum could be held as early as 2028. In the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, 55.42 percent of Scots voted against independence. "The very future of the United Kingdom will, at least in a small way, be challenged almost certainly by the results of these elections," said Jonathan Tonge, professor of politics at the University of Liverpool.