U.K. leader Keir Starmer said on May 8 he took responsibility for "very tough" local election results that saw the insurgent hard-right make big gains, but vowed to carry on as prime minister.
"I'm not going to walk away and plunge the country into chaos," Starmer said, after his ruling Labour party lost hundreds of councillors in England.
Labour was also braced for humiliating results in voting for the devolved parliaments in Scotland and Wales.
"The results are tough, they are very tough, and there's no sugarcoating it," Starmer said.
"We have lost brilliant Labour representatives across the country, these are people who put so much into their communities, so much into our party.
"And that hurts, and it should hurt, and I take responsibility," he added.
The ballot is the biggest electoral test for the beleaguered Starmer since Labour ousted the Conservatives following 14 years in power in a landslide election victory less than two years ago.
Grim results for Labour predicted by opinion polls appeared to be being borne out in some areas first to declare.
By 8 a.m., Nigel Farage's anti-immigrant Reform U.K. had gained over 350 seats while Labour had lost over 240 across 40 of the 136 English councils to announce results so far.
Big losses for Labour could amplify calls for Starmer to resign or face a long-rumored party leadership challenge.
He insisted on May 8 that "days like this don't weaken my resolve to deliver the change that I promised."
Reform U.K.'s Farage said the local election results had demonstrated a "truly historic shift in British politics" and they were now "the most national of all the parties. We are here to stay."
Before polls closed on May 7 night, The Times reported that Energy Secretary and former Labour leader Ed Miliband had privately urged Starmer to set out a timetable to step down after the elections.
But Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy insisted early on May 8 that a change of leadership would be a mistake.
The ballot is deciding around 5,000 local council seats, out of 16,000, across England, while in Wales and Scotland voters are electing new devolved parliaments.
Reform and the left-wing Greens, led by self-described eco-populist Zack Polanski, are benefiting as expected from widespread disillusionment with Starmer's government.
Critics say Starmer has swerved from one policy misstep to another, and he has been embroiled in a scandal over Peter Mandelson, who was sacked as ambassador to Washington over his links to U.S. sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
He has also failed to fulfil his main promise of spurring economic growth, with impatient Britons still suffering a cost-of-living crisis, including from high energy prices.
The former lawyer is now one of the most unpopular prime ministers ever.
Kemi Badenoch's right-wing Conservatives were also bracing for the loss of traditional strongholds.
Curtice said the results confirmed "the fracturing of British politics".
Britain's media is full of rumors that ex-deputy prime minister Angela Rayner or Health Secretary Wes Streeting could try to oust Starmer after the results.
Neither is universally popular within Labour, however, and would need the backing of 20 percent of the party's MPs to launch a contest.
