Have voters decided to burn the UK political system to the ground?

What’s the story?

The local election results are (mostly) in and it’s not great news if your name isn’t Nigel Farage.

Reform UK have been the clear winners, claiming hundreds of new council seats, while Labour and the Conservatives suffered heavy losses across the UK.

There were moderate gains for both the Lib Dems and Green Party, who increased their number of councillors.

Keir Starmer has described the outcome as "tough results for Labour", while Nigel Farage has celebrated a "very good morning".

"Labour is losing about 50% of all of the council seats that they are defending," says Lewis Goodall.

"There are 'mid-term blues', but this is of a different order of magnitude for a governing party."

"Labour is bleeding support in two directions, to two new forces on the political scene – Reform and the Greens."

More uniquely, Lewis says, this magnitude of loss is because voters aren’t moving to what would be widely considered the official opposition party, the Tories.

"The Conservatives are losing council seats for the fifth consecutive year," he adds.

"They too are losing ground to Reform."

Have British voters decided to 'burn it all down'?

This may have been an election to decide who's responsible for bin collections and filling in potholes, but the results are so stark it can only come as a wake-up call for the mainstream parties.

"You didn't hear Keir Starmer or even Kemi Badenoch trying to pretend this was anything other than a night of pain," says Emily Maitlis.

"It does strike me that this wasn't an election in the traditional sense of the word – it was more of an arson attack."

She says leaders such as Farage and Polanski have invited people up and down the country to “burn down the system”, one which they feel has left them poorer, and less content.

"The people have said, yes, we will," Emily adds.

"We are now a country that believes it's 'better the devil you don't know' than the one you do.

"The worst thing you can be right now is part of the establishment."

And, perhaps the wildest part is, the leading disruptor in British politics right now is establishment through and through.

"We all know, Farage has been around the block in many incarnations, many iterations, many name-changes in politics," Emily says.

"But he's managed to convince people, with the streak of an evangelist, that he is the newcomer."

If Reform voters ever do see him for what he is, she adds, that may be the moment it is “all over” for him.

Is this endgame for Keir Starmer?

With vacant Labour council seats still warm, mutterings began on whether Keir Starmer was the right man to continue to lead the government.

He's bounced back from previous calls from rivals to step down, but if the call comes from inside his own party this time, things could be very different.

"Everyone you actually speak to in the Labour Party believes that Keir Starmer is a disaster," says Lewis.

"The question is whether the Labour Party, for once, has got enough guts, enough bottle, to do something about it."

Jon Sopel says Labour's biggest problem is, and has always been, an inability to articulate its vision for the country.

But it may be too late for vision.

Reform, Lewis adds, is now essentially taking Labour’s place as the most widely represented party on a national level. That too, he says, is Starmer’s fault.

"Even in Jeremy Corbyn's worst years, he wasn't losing seats like this. He wasn't going backwards like this,” Lewis says.

"Fairly or unfairly, Keir Starmer, for whatever reason, is despised by the public of this country."

Labour’s hopes, The News Agents believe, may lie in the mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, previously blocked by the Labour Party for standing in Gorton and Denton – leading to a Green Party victory.

"If the Labour Party cared about its survival and about keeping Reform out, they would be moving hell and high water right now to get Andy Burnham a seat in Parliament," Lewis adds.

"He is the most popular Labour politician in the country."

Emily says we are already there – and sees him in Downing Street before the end of 2026.

“I think this is going to take four months,” she adds.

“But I think by October, we will probably be there with Burnham."

Listen to the latest episode of The News Agents.