Evening Briefing Europe

UK’s Starmer Says He Has No Plans to Step Down After Losses

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Keir Starmer speaks to members of the media in London, on May 8.Photographer: Leon Neal/Getty Images via Getty Images Europe

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said he has no plans to step aside as leader of the Labour Party as results in local elections show large gains for the populist Reform UK party of Nigel Farage.

By late afternoon, with more than a third of English councils declared, Reform had logged a net gain of 417 seats, while Labour’s tally was down by 268. The governing party has lost around half of the seats it was defending.