Starmer Braces for Upsets in U.K. Local Elections |
Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at expected Labour Party losses in the U.K. local elections, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s White House visit, and China’s latest crackdown on military corruption.
The End of Britain’s Two-Party System?
Local elections across the United Kingdom on Thursday are expected to expose growing dissatisfaction with Britain’s ruling Labour Party. Early polling predicts that voters will choose parties on the far sides of the political spectrum—namely, the far-right Reform UK and the leftist Greens—over mainstream candidates.
Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at expected Labour Party losses in the U.K. local elections, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s White House visit, and China’s latest crackdown on military corruption.
The End of Britain’s Two-Party System?
Local elections across the United Kingdom on Thursday are expected to expose growing dissatisfaction with Britain’s ruling Labour Party. Early polling predicts that voters will choose parties on the far sides of the political spectrum—namely, the far-right Reform UK and the leftist Greens—over mainstream candidates.
“It is starting to look as if the two-party Westminster system, the Labour Party and Conservative Party duopoly that has dominated U.K. politics for more than a century, is coming apart,” Jamie Maxwell writes in Foreign Policy.
Reform UK, a nationalist, anti-immigrant party led by Nigel Farage, is likely to emerge as the big winner on Thursday. In Scotland and Wales, Reform is predicted to become the main opposition group in both devolved national parliaments. Labour is expected to lose control of the Welsh Parliament for the first time since the body was created in 1999.
Reform will also likely expand its control of local councils in England. About 5,000 seats are up for grabs. However, surveys suggest that Labour, which currently holds more than 2,000 of the contested seats, could lose around 75 percent of these spots.
Meanwhile, the Green Party, a left-wing progressive party led by Zack Polanski, is also expected to sweep council seats in England. It could........