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Reform UK scores breakthrough wins in local elections · DEEP INSIGHT

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The UK is the latest G seven nation and key
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  Speaker 1: ally of Canada to see a populist shift in voting.
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  Speaker 1: The results from local elections could lead the British Prime
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  Speaker 1: Minister on even shakier political ground. Reform UK leader Nigel
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  Speaker 1: Farage points to the vote as proof that his party
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  Speaker 1: is here to stay.
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  Speaker 2: It can't continue to be a fluke or a protest Vought,
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  Speaker 2: I would honestly say you're witnessing an historic shift in
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  Speaker 2: British politics.
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  Speaker 1: Forage is an enthusiastic supporter of US President Donald Trump,
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  Speaker 1: and like Trump, he has promised to carry out mass deportations.
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  Speaker 1: Forage was also a key player in the Brexit referendum
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  Speaker 1: that pulled the UK out of the European Union. Crystal
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  Speaker 1: Gomancing is with us from London, Crystal. You're in the
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  Speaker 1: central London there. I can see the buses behind you.
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  Speaker 1: How big a shift is this in these local elections.
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  Speaker 3: It is a pretty big shift in these, as you said,
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  Speaker 3: local elections, but it is seen as a test, a
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  Speaker 3: midterm test for what is going to happen to the
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  Speaker 3: governing Labor Party. And just to give you an indication,
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  Speaker 3: results are very much early stages. Are still waiting for
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  Speaker 3: more than half of the results from councils across England.
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  Speaker 3: But at this moment in time, Reform has more council seats.
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  Speaker 3: Next will be the Liberal Democrats, then the Conservatives, than Labor.
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  Speaker 3: That is a huge political shift and it does suggest
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  Speaker 3: that for the local councils there could be more of
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  Speaker 3: a need to collaborate, to work together to form coalitions
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  Speaker 3: rather than just you know, Labor councilors running those councils
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  Speaker 3: and having a sort of a sweep across the board.
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  Speaker 3: And this change is something that people were anticipating going
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  Speaker 3: into the election. On Thursday, we did hear from Tony Travers.
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  Speaker 3: He's a professor at the London School Economics, and he
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  Speaker 3: said that while coalitions are very different for the United Kingdom,
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  Speaker 3: it is a very European thing and that could be
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  Speaker 3: our future.
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  Speaker 4: What we're going to find out is what happens in
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  Speaker 4: a multi party system with these The need to create
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  Speaker 4: government arrangements or coalition arrangements in some cases after the
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  Speaker 4: voting day very common in continental Europe, absolutely not common
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  Speaker 4: in most Westminster systems and certainly not in the UK.
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  Speaker 4: So that's going to be a big test and it's
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  Speaker 4: to some extent going to tell us I think something
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  Speaker 4: about how British national politics turns out in the general
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  Speaker 4: after the next general election.
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  Speaker 3: So national politics different than local politics. But here political
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  Speaker 3: affiliation does matter, and what we're seeing so far is
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  Speaker 3: that the Labor Party is in trouble.
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  Speaker 1: Susan Krystill, Nigel is not a stranger to politics. I
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  Speaker 1: mean he only became an MP in the British Parliament
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  Speaker 1: in twenty twenty four, but he's been a politician sort
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  Speaker 1: of agitating from the sidelines for over thirty years. And
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  Speaker 1: this election is seen as well as a referendum on
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  Speaker 1: the UK Prime Minister Kerri Starmer. So have we heard
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  Speaker 1: from him.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, we heard from Kier Summer actually quite early on.
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  Speaker 3: He is not only a prime minister but of course
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  Speaker 3: the leader of the Labor Party, and he was under
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  Speaker 3: so much pressure because he has become more and more
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  Speaker 3: unpopular since he won a sweeping majority of the general
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  Speaker 3: election in twenty twenty four. However, what he said this
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  Speaker 3: morning was that this is bad for the Labor Party,
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  Speaker 3: that they have lost a lot of good counselors. But
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  Speaker 3: he is refusing to step aside.
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  Speaker 2: Let me be clear, these are really tough results. I'm
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  Speaker 2: not going to sugarcoat it. And the vote have sent
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  Speaker 2: a message about the pace of change, how they want
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  Speaker 2: their lives improved. They was elected to meet those challenges
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  Speaker 2: and I'm not going to walk away from those challenges
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  Speaker 2: and plunge the country into chaos.
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  Speaker 3: Well, his party and his future might be the thing
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  Speaker 3: that's actually in chaos after today, of course, we still
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  Speaker 3: have more councils to report their results from, as well
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  Speaker 3: as the results from the government elections and the devolved
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  Speaker 3: governments of Wales as well as Scotland, and there could
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  Speaker 3: be more losses there. In fact, those losses are anticipated,
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  Speaker 3: particularly in Wales's.
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  Speaker 1: Christial If I can just ask you for a second,
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  Speaker 1: when is the general election? How long does Kirstarmer have
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  Speaker 1: before he faces the voters.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, he's got a couple of years, but it is
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  Speaker 3: unclear if in fact he would even be able to
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  Speaker 3: stay on as the party leader. The mandate was for
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  Speaker 3: five years, so he has some time. But even going
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  Speaker 3: into this election he was under so much pressure there
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  Speaker 3: were a lot of calls for him to step aside.
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  Speaker 3: We haven't necessarily heard from any front bench members of
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  Speaker 3: the Labor Party calling for him to step down right now,
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  Speaker 3: But it is early and is only you know, just
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  Speaker 3: getting into the afternoon here, so it might be a
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  Speaker 3: very busy weekend for Labor Party cabinet members as they
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  Speaker 3: try to determine what their future will be and if
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  Speaker 3: in fact they still stand behind the current leader and
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  Speaker 3: Prime Minister Cure Starker.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks Krystal.