Keir Starmer has been warned to “start listening” by a senior Labour mayor following a string of shock local election results that saw Reform UK make sweeping gains and deliver a sharp blow to the political establishment.
The message came as the right-wing party, led by Nigel Farage, secured a landmark mayoral victory and took control of several councils once held by Labour and the Conservatives.
Ros Jones, Labour’s veteran mayor in Doncaster, issued the pointed criticism after narrowly holding onto her seat amid a close challenge from Reform UK.
She voiced concern over Starmer’s recent welfare and tax policies, including changes to the winter fuel allowance and rising national insurance contributions, warning that Labour risked losing touch with everyday voters.
“I think the results here tonight will demonstrate that they need to be listening to the man, woman and businesses on the street, and actually deliver for the people, with the people.”
Ros Jones
The pressure on Labour intensified after Reform UK clinched the Greater Lincolnshire mayoralty, handing former Conservative MP Andrea Jenkyns a decisive 40,000-vote majority and the most influential role the party has won to date. With a £24 million budget and power over regional planning, transport, skills, and economic development, Jenkyns is now poised to implement policies that echo Reform’s populist agenda.
Jenkyns, a controversial figure known for her staunch right-wing views during her time as a Conservative backbencher, did not hold back during her victory speech. She claimed she had been targeted by dirty campaign tactics, saying: “The Conservatives called the police on me and implied I slept with political friends.” She further mocked critics of her candidacy: “One of the candidates said I was parachuted in … she said this in her South African accent.”
The Lincolnshire result came amid a broader electoral surge for Reform, which by Friday lunchtime had also taken control of Staffordshire county council and unseated Labour in Durham. In Lincolnshire, the Tories were left reeling, having lost 49 seats and retaining only five, while Labour held just three. The Liberal Democrats matched the Conservatives with five seats. In Staffordshire, the collapse of the Tory vote was even more dramatic, with the party dropping from 53 seats to a mere handful.
Reform Gains Spark Labour Concerns
Jenkyns’s speech also laid out her political priorities: “I say no to putting people in hotels. Tents are good enough for France. They should be good enough for people in Britain.” Her remarks signaled the hard-line stance Reform intends to bring into local governance. Her rivals on stage walked off during the speech, leaving her alone at the podium.
Strong second-place finishes for Reform in the Hull and East Yorkshire, Doncaster, and West of England mayoral races further underscored the growing appeal of Farage’s party. In Doncaster, Jones barely secured re-election with a margin of fewer than 700 votes.
She criticized the winter fuel changes, saying she had stepped in with local support funds to ensure residents “didn’t go cold during the winter.” She also condemned the national insurance increase, describing it as “hitting some of our smaller businesses,” and said the squeeze on personal independence payments was causing anxiety among many.
Labour’s Helen Godwin won the West of England mayoralty, but Reform once again surprised many by edging out the Greens for second place. Reform’s candidate, Arron Banks — best known as the Brexit-backing businessman and self-styled “bad boy of Brexit” — earned 45,252 votes compared to Godwin’s 51,197.
Jenkyns, for her part, declared the results a pivotal moment in Reform’s political rise. “Reform is getting into places of power for the first time and we have to show we can deliver,” she said. “If we can show what we can do, then it will be a blueprint for government.”
Among her pledges, Jenkyns promised to launch “Doge Lincolnshire”, inspired by Elon Musk’s U.S. “Department of Government Efficiency,” and vowed to resist what she called “net zero madness.”
As Reform UK’s presence in local government grows, Starmer now faces mounting pressure from within his own party to reconnect with voters and recalibrate ahead of the general election.
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