Looking at the U.K. from over the Atlantic, you might well ask: What on earth is going on? (That is, if you’ve noticed at all.)
When Andy Burnham launched his new regime outside Downing Street on Monday, he became the U.K.’s fifth Prime Minister in the last five years. In that time, we&#8217;ve covered a lot of political ground here in Blighty; from an abortive two-month attempt at libertarianism under Liz Truss to technocracy under Rishi Sunak and social democracy under Keir Starmer. Leaders of both main parties have had a go at fixing Britain&#8217;s deep-rooted issues.
Now Burnham enters the breach to try his hand too. But what to make of the man dubbed the “King of the North”?
A bit of background. Despite his newfound power and attempts to present himself as an alternative to the stale politics of Westminster, Burnham has been lurking around British politics for years.
In 1998, Burnham joined the Tony Blair government as an advisor, at the age of 28. In 2001, Burnham was elected as the Member of Parliament for Leigh – his hometown in Greater Manchester. Between 2007 and 2010, he held three cabinet roles in Gordon Brown&#8217;s government, including Health Secretary. Out of government, he unsuccessfully ran for Labour leader twice; once in 2010, losing to Ed Miliband, and then in 2015, losing to Jeremy Corbyn.
He is most famous for his tenure as Mayor of Manchester, which lasted between 2017 and 2026, when he gained plaudits for facing down central government during the COVID pandemic over regional lockdown funding. Now, after stepping down as mayor, being elected as an MP and securing sufficient backing from within the Labour Party to become leader, he is Prime Minister.
The next consideration is whether, after jumping through these hoops to reach the top job, Burnham will be up to the task.
We can look at three key issues: the economy, immigration, and defense. The first two are of particular electoral importance.
Economically, Burnham comes from a deeply statist tradition within the Labour Party. An ideological enemy of Margaret Thatcher&#8217;s economic revolution in the 1980s, when the Iron Lady exposed Britain&#8217;s stagnant industries (many of which were based in the North of England) to market forces, Burnham used his opening speech as prime minister to lay out his economic vision. He will &#8220;build a new economy,&#8221; and will &#8220;put life’s essentials back under stronger public control to make them affordable&#8221;.
Overseeing this vision is John Healey, who has been appointed chancellor. Though Healey is considered a safe pair of hands, this economic vision is anything but. It is important to remember that this approach has been tried before when, in the 1970s, Britain spent beyond its means and had to go cap in hand to the International Monetary Fund for a loan in 1976. Similarly, the problem with Britain&#8217;s economy now is not that the state has too little involvement, but far too much. Excessive regulation has caused growth to flatline and hiring to slump. Without economic dynamism and job creation, we Britons will not feel materially wealthier any time soon.
Now to immigration, Labour&#8217;s bête noire. Sensible Labour politicians have known for some time that immigration must come down, but have not known how to articulate or execute this without alienating their cosmopolitan, progressive base. Burnham is slightly different and has hardened his stance on the issue in recent years. Overseeing immigration control is Shabana Mahmood, who has been reappointed as Home Secretary. Mahmood is from the supposed right of the party – known as “Blue Labour” – and has maintained the immigration restrictions brought in by the Conservatives and is trying to extend the amount of time needed for permanent residency from five to 10 years. While robust for a politician of the Left and undoubtedly a positive step, many on the Right would argue she does not go far enough, as she stops short of wanting to overhaul our immigration or asylum systems entirely.
Finally, and most importantly for readers across the pond, comes defense and foreign policy. While not always a priority for voters, it is a vital issue, and Keir Starmer’s insufficient funding for the area catalyzed his downfall. Burnham has appointed our former Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, as Defense Secretary, and our former Energy Secretary, Ed Miliband, as Foreign Secretary.
These are two very different men. While Streeting is broadly considered a pragmatist, he has no defense experience, which is an increasingly urgent issue. Decades of underinvestment have brought us to a perilous point: despite the regular army having about 74,000 personnel, only around 54,000 are medically fit and ready for deployment, fewer than the casualties Russia sustains every couple of months in Ukraine. Already Streeting is faltering, refusing to commit to the new chancellor’s calls for increased defense spending of 3% by 2030.
Miliband is a more volatile character. As energy secretary, he was zealous on the green agenda and highly resistant to President Trump&#8217;s calls to shore up Britain&#8217;s supplies of oil and gas in the North Sea. As foreign secretary, Miliband is likely to continue in his anti-Trump vein. In the past, Miliband has called Trump “racist, misogynistic self-confessed groper” and described the president as having “lowered the bar for idiocy.” While the pressures of government have forced Miliband to soften his tone in recent years, he has already hinted that as foreign secretary he will prioritize relations with the European Union.
If you&#8217;re still wondering what on earth is going on, you couldn&#8217;t be blamed. Much of Burnham&#8217;s vision for government will merely reheat the Starmer administration, with all the same risk aversion and misplaced instincts that ultimately led to his resignation. Political predictions are a fool&#8217;s errand, but if I was a betting man, I&#8217;d put my money on this Labour government being just as much of a circus as the one it succeeded.
***
Joseph Dinnage is Senior Press Officer at the Prosperity Institute.

First Cabinet Meeting of UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham

Who Is Britain’s New Prime Minister?

andy burnham

British Elections

DW Opinion

Ed Milibrand

John Healey

Keir Starmer

Labour Party

Shabana Mahmood

Tony Blair

Wes Streeting

Self-described socialist Andy Burnham promised to establish a “new economic model” as he officially became the prime minister of the United Kingdom on Monday. 
Burnham said in his first speech as prime minister that he would seek to implement a “new economic model” and make politics more &#8220;collaborative.&#8221; Becoming the seventh prime minister since 2016, Burnham said he hopes to bring stability to the United Kingdom.
“Britain needs to show the world that we can regain our stability once again. And that is our challenge, to make politics work, to make it work better. I know people at home are fed up with politics. I hear you, and I want to be honest with you. We have not been good enough, and we need to be better,” Burnham said. “We will be. We will make this moment a circuit breaker for Britain, bringing forward the biggest changes in the last 40 years, a new political model, and a new economic model.”
Burnham criticized policies made in the 1980s when he said that Britain “took some wrong turns.”
“Political power was centralized, economic power privatized, large parts of the country de-industrialized, and they still haven&#8217;t recovered,” he said. “Many feel as if they are still in decline and they don&#8217;t have the ability to turn things around. And that&#8217;s why we will change politics. To make it more collaborative, more about problem solving than point scoring.”
Burnham, the latest socialist politician to come to power, said he would “build a new economy, where we put life&#8217;s essentials back under stronger public control to make them affordable to you again” and claimed he would implement policies to reduce the cost of living. 
The 56-year-old former mayor of Greater Manchester <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clywzj2vk3zo">has said</a> he wants the government to take “greater public control” of water and electricity and wants more funding for “affordable” housing. 
Burnham’s road to becoming prime minister opened up last month after he won a seat in parliament and then secured the support of the Labour Party last week. He replaces Keir Starmer, who faced increasing pressure to step down amid scrutiny over the United Kingdom’s poor economy and cabinet ties to Jeffrey Epstein. 
President Donald Trump noted Sunday that Burnham has said he would open up the North Sea for oil drilling. 
“The People of Aberdeen, in Scotland, are dancing in the streets because the new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, has stated that he will be opening up, all the way, the invaluable North Sea Oil! It is one of the Greatest Sources of quality Oil on Earth, has hundreds of years of Capacity left, with much not even found yet, and will make the United Kingdom, from a Poverty Stricken Disaster, to one of the Richest Countries anywhere in the World!” Trump said. 
Burnham has previously been critical of Trump claiming that he brought “instability” to the world and said during the January 6 riot that “any U.K. politician who gave Trump the time of day should be ashamed right now.”
The rise of the self-described “business-friendly socialist” to power in the United Kingdom comes as far-Left socialists have made waves in recent elections in the United States, most prominently in New York City.

Andy Burnham Enters Downing Street as Britain’s New Prime Minister in London

World Eyes Rise Of Socialism As New U.K. Prime Minister Takes Power

united kingdom

world

Keir Starmer finally did what millions of Britons had been waiting for, announcing his resignation as Labour Party leader on Monday after losing the confidence of his own MPs — capping a tenure marked by free speech crackdowns, grooming gang scandals, and a Palestinian statehood blunder that left allies fuming.
&#8220;Every decision I&#8217;ve taken has been about putting the country I love first,&#8221; the embattled prime minister <a href="https://x.com/Keir_Starmer/status/2068974834676342973?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2068974834676342973%7Ctwgr%5Ea50fe40a71921329649eed6a7b9fd5a6b391f981%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailywire.com%2Fnews%2Fkeir-starmer-quits-as-british-prime-minister-after-two-years-of-chaos-controversy">declared</a> outside 10 Downing Street. &#8220;That is why I will resign as leader of the Labour Party.&#8221;
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On Sunday, President Donald Trump blasted Starmer, writing on Truth Social, &#8220;Keir Starmer will resign as Prime Minister of The United Kingdom. He failed badly on two very important subjects — IMMIGRATION AND ENERGY (OPEN NORTH SEA OIL!). I wish him well!&#8221;
The writing had been on the wall for months. Labour&#8217;s vote share had cratered to a humiliating 17% in May&#8217;s local elections, with Nigel Farage&#8217;s Reform U.K. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/lying-rat-keir-starmer-ripped-for-blocking-right-wing-activists-from-unite-the-kingdom-rally?author=Hank+Berrien&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=%E2%80%98Lying+Rat%E2%80%99%3A+Keir+Starmer+Ripped+For+Blocking+Right-Wing+Activists+From+%E2%80%98Unite+The+Kingdom%E2%80%99+Rally">surging</a> past them at 26%. Starmer — already the least popular prime minister since records began — had lost his party, lost the public, and finally lost his nerve.
The human rights lawyer-turned-prime minister spent his final months under fire for his failure to address Britain&#8217;s broken National Health Service and immigration crisis and for banning foreign speakers from a conservative rally. In May, Starmer blocked seven international figures — including elected Polish MEP Dominik Tarczyński — from attending the &#8220;Unite the Kingdom&#8221; rally in London, with his Home Office declaring their presence &#8220;not conducive to the public good.&#8221;
Tarczyński wasn&#8217;t having it. &#8220;This is what communism looks like in the 21st century,&#8221; the Polish lawmaker <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/a-growing-fight-over-who-gets-to-enter-country-just-took-another-wild-turn?author=Hank+Berrien&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=A+Growing+Fight+Over+Who+Gets+To+Enter+Country+Just+Took+Another+Wild+Turn">raged</a>, vowing to sue Starmer personally. &#8220;Once you lose the next election, communist, we&#8217;ll meet in court!&#8221;
The ban drew instant accusations of hypocrisy — Starmer <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/lying-rat-keir-starmer-ripped-for-blocking-right-wing-activists-from-unite-the-kingdom-rally?author=Hank+Berrien&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=%E2%80%98Lying+Rat%E2%80%99%3A+Keir+Starmer+Ripped+For+Blocking+Right-Wing+Activists+From+%E2%80%98Unite+The+Kingdom%E2%80%99+Rally">said nothing</a> about blocking participants from the pro-Palestine &#8220;Nakba Day&#8221; march happening the same day. Critics noted the selective enforcement was vintage Starmer, echoing his days as director of Public Prosecutions when, many argue, his office dragged its feet on prosecuting the Pakistani grooming gangs responsible for sexually abusing at least 1,400 children in Rotherham.
On St. George&#8217;s Day, he called patriots &#8220;plastic&#8221; — mocking Britons who dared to fly their own national flag. In 2020, he championed Black Lives Matter rioters as &#8220;people rightly demanding justice.&#8221; In August 2024, he called anti-immigration protesters — outraged after a man whose parents emigrated from Rwanda knifed three little girls to death in Southport — &#8220;far-Right thugs.&#8221;
Then, Starmer&#8217;s government surrendered British territory to Mauritius for $46 billion in what critics called a stunning act of national self-harm. Topping it all off, Starmer recognized Palestinian statehood with zero conditions — handing a diplomatic prize to a movement that celebrated the October 7 massacre — prompting Tory leader Kemi Badenoch to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/absolutely-disastrous-british-conservative-leader-rips-starmer-recognizing-palestinian-state?author=Hank+Berrien&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=%E2%80%98Absolutely+Disastrous%E2%80%99%3A+British+Conservative+Leader+Rips+Starmer+Recognizing+%E2%80%98Palestinian+State%E2%80%99">declare</a>, &#8220;We will all rue the day this decision was made.&#8221;
&#8220;They cannot fix the NHS, so they push assisted suicide,&#8221; Badenoch scorched. &#8220;He will spend the next four years delivering the hobby horses of the Labour left to stay in power and leave a HUGE mess for us to clean up.&#8221;
Now the scramble is on to replace him. Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham is the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-slow-awkward-race-to-replace-keir-starmer?author=Rhys+Laverty&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=The+Slow+Awkward+Race+To+Replace+Keir+Starmer">frontrunner</a> after he won an election to return to the House of Commons. Former Health Secretary Wes Streeting, Ed Miliband, and Deputy Prime Minister-turned-resigned Angela Rayner are also circling.
Starmer says he&#8217;ll stay on as caretaker prime minister until a new leader emerges before Parliament returns in September.

BRITAIN-POLITICS

Starmer’s Exit Comes Just Hours After Trump’s Tongue-Lashing

Great Britain

U.K.

Until its recent by-election, few in Britain (let alone the rest of the world) had heard of Makerfield.
Sandwiched between Manchester’s northwestern border and the town of Wigan, the history of the Makerfield constituency is typical of that part of the world. Home to the satellite towns that helped power the Manchester “cottonopolis” during the nineteenth century, when the city was renowned for its textile industry, the area was once relatively affluent.
The years since have not been so kind. While Makerfield has a relatively high home ownership rate, much of the constituency exhibits the hallmarks of British post-industrial decline – economic inactivity is high, with <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;source=web&amp;rct=j&amp;opi=89978449&amp;url=https://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/news/claimants-votes-will-count-in-makerfield-byelection&amp;ved=2ahUKEwjLlt247piVAxWcZ0EAHV-sLBsQFnoECBgQAQ&amp;usg=AOvVaw0TvYBWbdgmo0UwZVcGJpt7">10% of the population claiming Personal Independence Payments</a>, a form of disability welfare.
As if life wasn’t hard enough for residents, they now have another issue to contend with: Andy Burnham.
In the most consequential by-election of this century, Burnham — representing the Labour Party — won the constituency with 54.8% of the vote. The reason this was no ordinary local election is that Burnham has used this victory as a springboard to challenge the faltering Prime Minister Keir Starmer for leadership of the Labour Party, and thus the country.
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Keen followers of politics in the U.S.A. may have noticed that Starmer isn’t doing so well. After failing to deliver on almost all of his electoral promises over the last couple of years, Starmer has, for some time now, been in multiple Mexican standoffs as he has attempted to fend off leadership challengers in his own party.
As President Donald Trump has announced on social media, Britain’s adenoidal prime minister knows the game is up, and it is widely expected that he will resign as soon as Monday, paving the way for Burnham to re-enter parliament (he had been Mayor of Manchester since 2017) and trigger a leadership vote that he is the favorite to win.
In his victory speech at Makerfield, Burnham acknowledged that “everyone knows that politics isn’t working.” The question is, is he really the man to change that?
Burnham has been the favorite for a while to succeed Starmer as prime minister. Despite his net favorability ratings <a href="https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/andy-burnham-and-wes-streetings-national-favourability-ratings-fall-ahead-makerfield-election">taking a hit</a> in recent weeks, <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/politico-poll-andy-burnham-keir-starmer-nigel-farage-struggle-to-save-labour-from-defeat/">according to research</a> from Public First, he is still the Labour Party’s greatest hope for taking on Nigel Farage and Reform U.K. — who could well win the next general election.
On the surface, part of Burnham’s appeal is that he does a decent job at the “normal guy” routine (that is, when he’s not <a href="https://order-order.com/2026/05/21/bad-tempered-burnham-loses-cool-in-clash-with-daily-mails-christian-calgie/">shouting at journalists on the campaign trail</a>). For a U.S. audience unfamiliar with the Greater Manchester area, it is apparently political suicide not to constantly pay homage to the region’s cultural heritage. This largely involves making regular references to football (soccer), the band Oasis, and beige fast food — in Burnham’s case, <a href="https://x.com/s8mb/status/2054833152544137527">chips and gravy</a>.
He achieves this with flying colors, but it takes more than regional sycophancy to run a country. Here, Burnham has his work cut out for him.
Not only has Starmer done little to address the deep cultural divisions in Britain brought about by decades of short-sighted mass migration, but he has also failed to fix our economic woes.
In the build-up to the general election in 2024, which Starmer won with a historic landslide, he and Rachel Reeves (now Chancellor of the Exchequer and also on the chopping block) promised that their Labour Party would differ from previous iterations. They would boost economic growth by ushering in a housebuilding revolution through radical supply-side reforms; they would give businesses the room they needed to innovate; and make tough, necessary reforms to the welfare state to get Britain back on a stable fiscal footing. With housebuilding stagnant, businesses straddled with yet more red tape and higher taxes, and his already minor welfare reforms diluted beyond all recognition, he has failed on every metric.
There is little evidence that Burnham will prove much better.
First, his economic literacy is highly questionable. Among the British Right, Burnham is most notorious for having said Britain is too much “in hock” to the bond markets, implying that we should be able to borrow as much as we like without any consequences. Our national debt is approximately £2.9tn — approaching 100% of GDP — and bond traders are understandably nervous that Burnham is going to be fiscally reckless. Though Burnham has recently softened his approach to the bond market, some of those whom he is rumored to have taken on as economic advisors have called for <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2026/06/21/chancellor-yvette-cooper-city-traders-seek-reassurance/">wholesale reform of Britain’s fiscal rules</a>.
It would be one thing if Burnham were considering changing these rules to facilitate pro-growth, free-market reforms, but he isn’t. Burnham will take into government the approach he adopted as mayor of Manchester, what he calls “business-friendly socialism.” Manchester — where skyscrapers now stand where mills once lined the streets — is used as evidence of his success. Yet the extent to which Manchester’s regeneration can be attributed to Burnham is <a href="https://spectator.com/article/can-andy-burnham-take-credit-for-manchesters-success/">widely questioned</a>, and Manchester City Council is <a href="https://capx.co/manchesterism-is-a-third-way-to-nowhere">heading towards being the most indebted in the country</a>, with liabilities of around £1.6bn.
The grim likelihood is that Burnham will join what is becoming a very long line of failed recent prime ministers. It may shock American audiences to learn that the last prime minister to serve a full term was David Cameron, and he left office over a decade ago. On our current trajectory, the metrics point to things getting worse in Britain before they get better, and Burnham shows no sign of wanting to reform the economy and state in a way that would make us more prosperous.
If international onlookers are genuinely invested in the future of Britain, then they shouldn’t look to Burnham for a sign of what the future may hold, but to the debates currently raging at the other end of the political spectrum.
***
Joseph Dinnage is Senior Press Officer at the Prosperity Institute.

Voters Go To The Polls In the Makerfield By-election

Is It New Boss Same As The Old Boss For Britain’s Andy Burnham?

Makerfield

Adam Smith once said that there was a great deal of ruin in a nation. 250 years since he said these words of consolation, Great Britain, his country and mine, seems to be trying to test that hypothesis to destruction. A few days ago, whilst the U.K. was reeling from yet another horrifically violent attack, The Atlantic published an article, “How Britain Became as Poor as Mississippi.” Whilst it is true that the British economy is in almost as parlous a state as its social fabric, the article makes several key mistakes when trying to work out what is breaking Britain.
What is really going on? As The Atlantic notes, by some measures, Brits were better off than their American cousins in the run up to the Great Financial Crash. We had nudged ahead in GDP per capita, and that’s with shorter working hours, more holiday, and the “socialized medicine” that many Americans seem to desire (more on that later).
The crash hit Britain particularly hard, however. The last Labour government has run huge deficits in the good times, sold off gold reserves, and overextended itself in Iraq and Afghanistan, whilst pouring money into unreformed public services and welfare. The national debt literally nearly doubled.
When the tide went out, we were in a desperate situation and in need of serious fiscal retrenchment, regardless of which party won the 2010 election. The Left will tell you that the bone-crushing austerity that brutalized the population caused this. The truth was that real spending was cut just 3%, over four years, from the highest base in British history.
The real problem with the crash, beyond an explosion in debt and the cost of servicing it, was the spread of a safetyist culture that prevented the bounce-back growth enjoyed by the U.S.A. and other countries. Instead, traumatized by the subprime mortgage scandal, regulators seized control of huge swaths of the economy and prevented the kind of robust economic growth needed to sustain a large welfare state and improve living conditions.
As growth left the equation, so too did a belief that things could get better. And this doomerist safetyism extended to a Quasi-Autonomous Non-Governmental Organization, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), that held a sword of Damocles over every budget. The OBR scores tax cuts as almost pure cost, crediting them with virtually no growth feedback, while scoring mass immigration as a fiscal positive; so the official arithmetic blesses one and damns the other before any minister opens his mouth.
More important even than the loss of understanding in economic growth is the way the British state operates. The fusion of the executive and legislature has traditionally given government powers that the U.S. presidency could only dream of. Britain has been famously described as an elective dictatorship in a mode that would have pleased Thomas Hobbes. In Britain’s uncodified (and in parts entirely unwritten) constitution, it is Parliament which is sovereign.
But the growth of the managerial (deep) state has gone much further even than in the U.S., and absent the federalism that allows America to build and compete, unitary Britain and its Parliament have become paralyzed from doing anything.
Lilliputian lawyers, charities, and NGOs have bound Leviathan, making it impossible to build data centers, aqueducts, houses, runways, and power plants. This, combined with net zero fanaticism, means Britain has the most expensive energy in the world (of course, we banned fracking years ago). To its credit, The Atlantic highlights some of the most absurd stipulations that overmighty Non-Governmental Organizations have insisted on, like the bat tunnel over a train line to allow bats to safely pass (there is in fact some evidence that it became a bat-killing tunnel as the poor creatures couldn’t escape it, but of course, no one lost their job over this).
Perhaps most alien to American readers is the fact that when Keir Starmer and Labour took over in July 2024, only 200 people across the whole of the British state changed jobs. One hundred ministers (including the PM and cabinet) drawn entirely from the 411 Labour MPs and 215 Labour Lords, and 100 “special advisers (SpAds),” the only political appointments allowed in the whole system. As a former SpAd myself, I can attest that the civil servants would always outnumber and outlast us. Not that it mattered much anyway; SpAds have no legal power to direct officials; we can only advise the minister.
In this way, all the same people, bar a minuscule number of figureheads, stay in post regardless of who wins the election. And because they never leave the system (it’s a job for life), they are extremely hostile to capitalism and the private sector, and frankly to outside ideas of any kind. It is, of course, fanatically fond of mass immigration.
This “blob” is the biggest hindrance to Britain’s prosperity and security. It breaks the Lockean feedback mechanisms that meaningful elections provide, and ruins the Hobbesian idea of the Sovereign&#8217;s power to act decisively. It never suffers if the economy does, and any scandal sees the elected minister (essentially a figurehead) fall on his sword, not them.
The reason for Brexit was that the European Union had become sovereign over Parliament. Now it is the officials who are sovereign and in control of the economy. Until there is a true restoration of the sovereignty of Parliament, Britain will remain poor, insular, and at risk from threats both at home and overseas. There is a great deal of ruin in a nation, but Britain cannot survive these problems endlessly without utter ruin.
***
James Price is a former Chief of Staff to the Chancellor of the Exchequer and a senior fellow at the Adam Smith Institute.

UK Money close-up.

The One Thing That Could Save The British Economy From Complete Ruin

Economics

Parliament

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Monday that his government plans to pursue a social media ban for children under 16, aligning Britain with Australia and other countries that have moved to tighten regulations on major technology platforms.
Starmer said the government plans to introduce the legislation in Parliament before Christmas, paving the way for the ban to take effect in early 2027. The restrictions would cover platforms including Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, X, and other streaming and social media services. 
Messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Signal will be exempt from the ban, according to the government. The restrictions also will not apply to educational services or music-streaming platforms.
In a social media video, the embattled and historically unpopular prime minister argued the ban is about improving the lives of children. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
We are banning social media access for under 16s.
These days kids must find their feet in a world where technology intrudes into every area of their life.
I just can’t let that go on anymore. So we’re giving children their childhoods back. <a href="https://t.co/jn7iQrcwk8">pic.twitter.com/jn7iQrcwk8</a>
— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) <a href="https://x.com/Keir_Starmer/status/2066421329859936656?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 15, 2026</a></blockquote>
“Every parent wants the best for their kids. That&#8217;s what being a parent means. And for me, for my two kids, all I&#8217;ve ever wanted is for them to be safe and for them to be happy, and the rest is up to them,” he said. “These days, kids have to find their feet in a world that changes so quickly, where technology intrudes into every area of their lives, and we know that harms them.&#8221; 
Starmer admitted the proposal is a “big step” and “not an easy thing to do.” 
“It&#8217;s fair to say that this decision has been resisted, and it will face resistance from some of the most powerful companies in the world, but we will take them on, and we will win, because the need for action could not be any clearer,” Starmer said. “Social media is making our children unhappy and unsafe, and as a parent, as much as a Prime Minister, I just cannot let that go on any more.” 
Immediately, YouTube and Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, pushed back and warned against unintended consequences. 
“Blanket bans push kids out of curated, supervised, and beneficial online experiences and toward anonymous, less-safe services,” a YouTube spokesman said, according to the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/uk-teen-social-media-ban-starmer-55de428636b586ff5553b604783f6fb3">Associated Press</a>, arguing that such a ban could drive teens to platforms that lack parental controls and other safety features.
<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/social-media-to-be-banned-for-under-16s-in-landmark-government-move-to-givekids-their-childhood-back">The British government</a> cited a nationwide consultation that garnered over 116,000 submissions from parents, children, and experts, with overwhelming support for the crackdown. According to the government, nine out of ten parents said they support a social media ban for children under 16. 
Nigel Farage, leader of the Right-wing Reform UK party, raised questions about whether the proposed ban would be effective.
“Whilst the social media ban is well-intentioned, it’s unlikely to work given the mass adoption of VPNs. It will also mean the introduction of Digital ID via the back door,” he <a href="https://x.com/Nigel_Farage/status/2066429978300833820">said</a>. “The real answer here is handsets for children with limited features.” 
If enacted, the ban would follow similar measures adopted in Australia and reflect a growing global push to restrict minors&#8217; access to social media. <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/french-lawmakers-approve-ban-on-social-media-for-kids-under-15">France</a> and <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04-24/norway-plans-to-introduce-under-16s-social-media-ban/106604296?utm_source=chatgpt.com">Norway</a> have also moved to tighten rules for young users.
The movement is gaining traction in parts of the United States as well, with several <a href="https://abcnews.com/Politics/states-banning-cellphones-schools/story?id=125515186">states and school districts</a> passing laws that restrict cellphone use in classrooms. It remains unclear whether a full-scale ban, as seen in Europe and Australia, would pass constitutional muster in the United States.
Across the pond, however, kids appear to be dreading the looming ban. 
“You’re going to have a lot more time to fill. What will you do?” a reporter asked a student.
“Stare at a wall,” <a href="https://x.com/TheInsiderPaper/status/2066503177953018330?s=20">she replied</a>.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
🚨 WATCH: School children react to the UK social media ban for under-16s live on BBC News <a href="https://t.co/BC9NSegMrf">pic.twitter.com/BC9NSegMrf</a>
— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) <a href="https://x.com/PolitlcsUK/status/2066430862158160244?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 15, 2026</a></blockquote>

Social Media

Millions Of Kids Could Soon Be Banned From TikTok And YouTube

News

social media

A man from Sudan was arrested after being caught on video apparently attempting to behead another man in the streets of Northern Ireland.  
Law enforcement identified a Sudanese national as the man shown in an extremely <a href="https://x.com/TPointUK/status/2064116183012429857">graphic video</a> pinning another man down and repeatedly stabbing the victim in the face and neck in the streets of Belfast. Bystanders stepped in and attempted to wrestle the man off the victim. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
🚨 NEW: A man has been arrested after an attempted beheading of another man in north Belfast tonight <a href="https://t.co/CFQirpQDwL">pic.twitter.com/CFQirpQDwL</a>
— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) <a href="https://x.com/PolitlcsUK/status/2064133716943732800?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 8, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
“He’s trying to cut his head off!” a person can be heard shouting in the video. 
The man was arrested on attempted murder charges, but authorities have yet to release his name. The victim, identified as a man in his 40s, was taken to the hospital with serious injuries. 
Police first identified the attacker as a man from Somalia, but later determined he was from Sudan. Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson said that his &#8220;understanding is the individual was given leave to remain in Northern Ireland,” <a href="https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/area/north-belfast-newtownabbey/north-belfast/north-belfast-attempted-beheading-police-tell-media-briefing-suspect-given-leave-to-remain-in-ni-and-attack-not-terror-related/a/156285563.html">according</a> to the Belfast Telegraph. 
Nigel Farage, the leader of the conservative Reform UK party, called for full transparency over the attack. Farage has been a critic of mass migration into the United Kingdom and has called for a freeze on immigration. 
“What happened in Belfast last night is horrific,” he <a href="https://x.com/Nigel_Farage/status/2064251817630863694">said</a>. “The authorities must reveal the identity and status of the attacker immediately. The public are entitled to the truth.”
In the wake of the brutal stabbing, Northern Ireland Justice Minister Naomi Long said she was scared about backlash to minorities and said the attack should not be used to fuel “dangerous narratives.” 
&#8220;I also know there are many people in our community people from ethnic minority backgrounds who are terrified today about any kind of retaliation or backlash against them, which we have seen in the past,&#8221; she told the BBC. 
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the attack, but did not note the identity or origin of the suspect. 
“The horrific attack in Belfast last night is sickening,” <a href="https://x.com/Keir_Starmer/status/2064273082580140525">said</a> Starmer. “I have absolutely no tolerance for abhorrent scenes of violence like this on our streets. My thoughts are first and foremost with the victim, and I thank the first responders, including members of the public who intervened.”
Hilary Benn, the secretary of state for Northern Ireland, told people to remain “calm” while the investigation into the attack played out. 
“The attack last night in Belfast was deeply shocking and all our thoughts are with the victim, who is seriously injured in hospital, and with his loved ones,” he <a href="https://x.com/hilarybennmp/status/2064290080303227131">said</a>. “I would like to thank the individuals who showed extraordinary bravery in coming to his aid.”
Immigration has long been a controversial issue in the United Kingdom as protesters urge an end to mass immigration from third-world countries. Protesters <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/protestants-catholics-march-together-in-belfast-anti-immigration-protest">took</a> to the streets in Ireland two years ago after another stabbing linked to immigration.

Scene Of Serious Stabbing In North Belfast

Migrant Arrested After Attempted Beheading Caught On Video

ireland

mass immigration

Sudan

The full force of the British government rushed to condemn the San Diego mosque shooting and comfort the country&#8217;s Muslim community despite repeated silence on antisemitic and anti-Christian attacks in the United States and on their own streets.
On Monday, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/police-respond-to-reports-of-active-shooter-near-islamic-center?author=Jacob+Wheeler&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowHeadline=Up+Next&amp;rowType=Up+Next+Carousel&amp;title=Two+Teenagers+Identified+As+Gunmen+Who+Killed+Three+At+San+Diego+Mosque">two teenagers, ages 17 and 18, killed three adults</a> — including a security guard — at the Islamic Center of San Diego in the Clairemont neighborhood. No motive has been provided, but investigators are reportedly reviewing “possible anti-Islamic writings” found in the car with the dead suspects, according to NBC News. 
The shooting sparked condemnation in the United States and across the pond in the U.K. 
&#8220;I condemn the deadly attack on a mosque in San Diego. My thoughts are with those affected. I know many Muslims in the U.K. will be shaken by this, worried about their safety when going about their lives and attending mosque, and what it says about the times we’re living in,&#8221; embattled British Prime Minister Keir Starmer posted on social media.
&#8220;I understand those fears. Violence like this does not happen in a vacuum. It grows in an environment where division and anti-Muslim hostility are normalized. That is intolerable. We must all come together against it,&#8221; he added. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
I condemn the deadly attack on a mosque in San Diego. My thoughts are with those affected.
I know many Muslims in the UK will be shaken by this, worried about their safety when going about their lives and attending mosque, and what it says about the times we’re living in. I…
— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) <a href="https://twitter.com/Keir_Starmer/status/2056642583955140639?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 19, 2026</a></blockquote>
Britain’s Metropolitan Police joined the chorus, releasing a statement aimed at reassuring the nation’s Muslim community.
&#8220;While the details of the incident continue to emerge, it is clear that this attack will cause deep concern and distress within Muslim communities across the United Kingdom and over the world,&#8221; the police department said. &#8220;It is an awful reality that Muslim communities continue to face heightened levels of threat. We know this attack will not only bring profound sadness but also significant concern about safety among Muslim Londoners.&#8221; 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
San Diego Islamic Center Attack
Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist: &#8220;Our thoughts are with the loved ones of those who have been killed or injured in the terrible attack at the Islamic Center in San Diego, and with the emergency services who responded.&#8221;
📰⬇️ <a href="https://t.co/DJfksF32Fv">pic.twitter.com/DJfksF32Fv</a>
— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) <a href="https://twitter.com/metpoliceuk/status/2056711924633498030?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 19, 2026</a></blockquote>
The Daily Wire could not find U.K. Metropolitan Police statements on antisemitic or anti-Christian attacks in the United States, including the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/what-we-know-about-the-trans-identifying-gunman-who-slaughtered-catholic-school-children">transgender-identifying 23-year-old who shot and killed</a> two children and injured 28 other people at a Minneapolis Catholic school last summer.
Nor did the U.K. government weigh in on the June 2025 <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/illegal-immigrant-sentenced-after-deadly-antisemitic-firebombing?author=Jacob+Wheeler&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=26&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Illegal+Immigrant+Sentenced+After+Deadly+Antisemitic+Firebombing">antisemitic firebomb attack in Boulder</a>, when an Egyptian national hurled Molotov cocktails at Jewish demonstrators supporting the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza, killing one person and injuring more than a dozen others, including a Holocaust survivor.
In January 2025, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s far-Left Labour Party blocked a push by the Conservative Party to open an investigation into Pakistani child rape gangs that garnered significant international attention, <a href="http://The Daily Wire previously reported.">The Daily Wire previously reported.</a>
The selective outrage drew the attention of some social media critics.
&#8220;They didn’t do this when 30 Christians were butchered in Plateau, Nigeria, last week, or when Omar Mateen gunned down 49 people in a gay nightclub in Orlando, or when women were sexually assaulted en masse on New Year’s Eve in Cologne,&#8221; one X user wrote. &#8220;So why are they doing this?&#8221; 
The Daily Wire reached out to the Metropolitan Police but did not receive a response in time for publication.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
They didn’t do this when 30 Christians were butchered in Plateau, Nigeria, last week, or when Omar Mateen gunned down 49 people in a gay nightclub in Orlando, or when women were sexually assaulted en masse on New Year’s Eve in Cologne.
So why are they doing this? <a href="https://t.co/DVyDT6TZSR">https://t.co/DVyDT6TZSR</a>
— Shahana Ashur (@AshurShahana) <a href="https://twitter.com/AshurShahana/status/2056739626870612406?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 19, 2026</a></blockquote>
Authorities said the mother of one of the suspects in the mosque shooting contacted the San Diego Police Department at 9:42 a.m. to report that her son had gone missing, along with multiple firearms, and her car. She said he was suicidal and was probably with a friend.

PM Starmer Visits Community Centre In Hertfordshire

Brits Rush To The Comfort Of Muslims After Mosque Shooting In U.S.

california

islam

san diego

shooting

Despite what many expected at the start of this week, Sir Keir Starmer remains prime minister of the United Kingdom — for now. The race to replace him has begun, though slowly and awkwardly, in part due to Starmer’s surprising resilience.
For months, there has been a broad consensus that the Labour Party would move to oust Starmer during May. It was anticipated that the party would suffer major losses at local elections, which happened last week, with Labour bleeding seats to Reform U.K. on their Right, as well as to the Greens and Scottish and Welsh nationalists on their Left.
Starmer was already the least popular prime minister since records began. Despite the occasional deceptive headline to the contrary, Labour has failed to make measurable progress on core areas such as immigration, the economy, and healthcare. Starmer’s departure, therefore, seemed a foregone conclusion.
And yet, he’s still here. This is remarkable given the unanimous consensus that Starmer is uniquely bad at political maneuvering. He is a human rights lawyer who lives by strict adherence to procedure. Yet this very trait has enabled him to weather this week’s storm of speculation and criticism.
Starmer has largely refused to bend to informal political pressure and fallen back on the fact that the Labour Party has a formal process for removing a leader, and that process has not been triggered. Multiple MPs have called for his resignation; junior ministers have resigned; cabinet ministers have told him that he needs to go.
As a crunch cabinet meeting on Tuesday morning approached, it felt like a familiar prime ministerial resignation story would play itself out for the fifth time in a decade. But Starmer refused to allow cabinet members to allow discussion of his leadership and simply stuck to his agenda as planned.
On paper, Starmer is totally within his rights to carry on with business as usual. Under Labour Party rules, 20% of sitting MPs (meaning 81 at current numbers) must back a specific MP to challenge Starmer if a leadership contest is to begin. Candidates would then be voted on by party members and affiliates (in short, trade unions).
It is here that Starmer has displayed some political ability and perhaps even courage, grounded in both firm knowledge and political calculus.
First, he knows that, currently, no other MP in the party can get 81 other MPs to back them. This is even the case for Wes Streeting, the now-former health secretary, long touted as a replacement for Starmer who could maintain an election-winning centrist agenda for Labour. Despite intense speculation that he would trigger a contest this week, it now seems that Streeting never had the numbers; if he did, he swiftly lost support by chickening out of challenging Starmer on Monday. Eventually, he resigned as health secretary on Thursday and is regrouping.
Second, Starmer seems to have calculated that, although the public detests him, they will detest chaos and infighting even more, especially having been so wearied by it under the Tories. If someone wants to challenge him, they will have to grasp this nettle.
Yet things are now moving toward the start of a formal contest, albeit slowly, due to the awkward circumstances of each potential contender.
The candidate with the best chance of winning the support of Labour MPs, the wider party, and (if you believe the spin) the country isn’t yet an MP himself: Andy Burnham, the mayor of Manchester.
Burnham is a throwback to Labour’s traditional northern white working-class heartlands and is widely viewed as Labour’s best hope of electoral revival, despite a mediocre political career. Yesterday, it was announced that a northern Labour MP will stand aside to let Burnham run for his seat. Burnham will first have to be approved by Labour’s National Executive Committee, which voted against him running earlier in the year at Starmer’s behest, though it is now unlikely to block him. After that, Burnham will still have to win a by-election, and this is far from guaranteed. Reform U.K. came a close second in the seat in 2024 and dominated last week’s local elections in the area. What’s more, there will also be a contest to replace Burnham as mayor, which Reform could well win. And even if he wins the by-election, he’d then need to win the Labour leadership. He’s taking multiple huge gambles.
Also in contention for leadership could be Angela Rayner, the former Deputy PM, cut from similar classic Labour cloth. Rayner had to resign in 2025 due to a tax scandal, which she claimed to have been conveniently cleared of this week, although tax experts remain unsure. Ed Miliband, energy secretary and former leader, has good odds of winning if Burnham isn’t able to run, but was rejected as a potential PM at the 2015 general election, so his wider national appeal has arguably already been found lacking.
Burnham, Streeting, and Miliband would all represent Labour’s left flank, Streeting its right. And Starmer himself is automatically entitled to run and defend his position. Could he still come out on top? After his surprising survival this week, don’t put it past him. It has been a week of the unexpected in Westminster, and it seems likely that we will only see more of it in the next few months.
***
Rhys Laverty is the editorial and research director at the Prosperity Institute.

NATO Leaders Attend 2025 Summit In The Hague

The Slow Awkward Race To Replace Keir Starmer

U.K. Elections

A prominent Polish member of the European Parliament and a leading voice for national sovereignty, launched a <a href="https://www.gbnews.com/news/unite-the-kingdom-rally-polish-mep-keir-starmer-home-office">scathing broadside</a> against British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, promising personal legal action after the Labour government barred him from entering the United Kingdom for the &#8220;Unite the Kingdom&#8221; rally on Saturday.
Dominik Tarczyński, a member of Poland’s Right-wing Law and Justice party, was set to headline the rally in London this weekend. However, he is now one of seven international figures blocked from entering Britain by the country&#8217;s Home Office. U.K. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood reportedly deemed their presence “not conducive to the public good.”
The move has ignited a firestorm of criticism regarding free speech and the selective enforcement of border controls under the Starmer administration. Tarczyński did not mince words on social media, framing the ban as a descent into authoritarianism.
&#8220;This is what communism looks like in the 21st century,&#8221; Tarczyński declared. &#8220;I have just been denied entry to the U.K. in order to speak at the largest patriotic event in Europe. Starmer will be sued by me. Not the Government, not the Home Office but Starmer personally. Once you lose the next election, communist, we’ll meet in court!&#8221;
The Polish lawmaker’s defiance comes as Starmer’s authority faces unprecedented pressure. While the prime minister <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snsqgwpboUQ">characterized</a> the rally as a design to &#8220;confront and intimidate&#8221; a diverse country, critics point to a glaring double standard. The ban on &#8220;far-Right&#8221; speakers stands in stark contrast to the government’s approach toward the &#8220;Nakba Day&#8221; pro-Palestine demonstrations occurring the same day.
For Tarczyński — who has frequently urged Western nations to &#8220;be like Poland&#8221; by rejecting mass migration — the ban is a badge of honor and a symptom of a failing establishment.
&#8220;This communist cannot silence millions,&#8221; he said.
The Home Office’s &#8220;decimation&#8221; of the speaker list was openly celebrated by Roshan Salih, editor of the Muslim outlet 5Pillars, who taunted organizer Tommy Robinson.
&#8220;We have absolutely decimated your speakers list for your march on Saturday. Please be aware that Muslims got this done,&#8221; Salih said, <a href="https://www.gbnews.com/news/unite-the-kingdom-rally-polish-mep-keir-starmer-home-office">according</a> to GB News.
This admission has only fueled the narrative that the Labour government is operating under the influence of sectarian interests rather than impartial law enforcement.
While Starmer claims to be fighting a &#8220;battle for the soul of our nation,&#8221; his critics argue he is merely suppressing political dissent while the U.K.’s borders remain porous. With Tarczyński threatening to drag the prime minister into court and the Trump administration previously expressing concern over European suppression of speech, Starmer’s attempt to &#8220;block hate&#8221; may have instead created a massive international legal and diplomatic headache for his crumbling administration.

POLAND-INDEPENEDCE-DEMONSTRATION-NATIONALISTS

A Growing Fight Over Who Gets To Enter Country Just Took Another Wild Turn

Muslims

Poland

tommy robinson

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivered a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snsqgwpboUQ">high-stakes speech</a> to the Labour Party on Monday, widely viewed as a desperate attempt to stave off a leadership coup following the &#8220;political earthquake&#8221; of the May 7 elections. With Labour&#8217;s national vote share plummeting to 17% and Reform U.K. surging to 26%, Starmer’s authority is hanging by a thread as senior MPs demand a &#8220;dignified exit.&#8221;
In a move critics call a calculated distraction, Starmer pivoted to attacking the &#8220;Unite the Kingdom&#8221; rally scheduled for Saturday, May 16, and announced that his government would &#8220;block far-Right agitators from traveling to Britain&#8221; to participate in the rally. Positioning himself as a noble defender of British decency, he accused his opponents of practicing &#8220;grievance politics&#8221; and looking for &#8220;someone to blame.&#8221; He also argued that his party was engaged in &#8220;a battle for the soul of our nation.&#8221;
However, Starmer’s selective targeting has sparked accusations of blatant hypocrisy. While he vowed to block international attendees for Tommy Robinson’s &#8220;Unite the Kingdom&#8221; event, he notably remained silent regarding participants for the other two massive anti-Right rallies occurring the same day: the &#8220;Nakba 78&#8221; March for Palestine and the trade union counter-protests. This omission is particularly glaring to his detractors, given the recent surge in extremist violence in the U.K., including the October 2025 Heaton Park synagogue terror attack by Jihad al-Shamie and the December 2025 Islamic State-inspired plot by Walid Saadaoui and Amar Hussein to massacre Jewish citizens.
Tommy Robinson, the leader of the &#8220;Unite the Kingdom&#8221; rally, issued a fiery response on X, branding the Prime Minister a &#8220;lying rat.&#8221; Robinson highlighted the irony of Starmer’s crackdown on &#8220;far-Right&#8221; international travel while the U.K.’s borders remain &#8220;wide open to invaders.&#8221; He directly addressed U.S. leaders, claiming Starmer lied to President Trump and Vice President JD Vance by targeting others who wish to support the rally for free speech and national sovereignty.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
The lying rat that is <a href="https://twitter.com/Keir_Starmer?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Keir_Starmer</a> has just gave a speech following hundreds of his own party demanding he resign 
During it, he openly admitted he&#39;s banning anyone from entering the UK for our Unite The Kingdom and the West rally. 
This is including American citizens, he lied… <a href="https://t.co/mGFMLKyyTE">pic.twitter.com/mGFMLKyyTE</a>
&mdash; Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧 (@TRobinsonNewEra) <a href="https://twitter.com/TRobinsonNewEra/status/2053777791422755233?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 11, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Starmer’s critics point to a long-standing pattern of selective enforcement, harkening back to his time as Director of Public Prosecutions. During that period, at least 1,400 children were victims of grooming gangs in Rotherham — perpetrated largely by British Pakistani men — with many arguing the CPS was too cautious or concerned with &#8220;avoiding accusations of racism&#8221; to intervene effectively.
As the May 16 rallies approach, Starmer faces a dual threat: a &#8220;mutinous&#8221; Parliamentary Labour Party and a public that increasingly views his &#8220;battle for the soul of the nation&#8221; as a partisan attempt to suppress one side of the political spectrum while ignoring radicalism on the other.
With the &#8220;Men in Grey Suits&#8221; reportedly preparing to visit 10 Downing Street, Starmer&#8217;s focus on Saturday’s march may be his final act as leader.

‘Lying Rat’: Keir Starmer Ripped For Blocking Right-Wing Activists From ‘Unite The Kingdom’ Rally

Unite The Kingdom

At the time of this writing, Britain is approximately halfway through counting the results of its 2026 local elections. Ordinarily, local elections wouldn&#8217;t deserve much attention, but this is no ordinary time in British politics. Local elections cover local councils, not Parliament, but this year sees many millions of votes up for grabs, as well as elections to the regional executives in Scotland and Wales. As such, they are a useful barometer of British opinion.
As things stand, the British people have turned ruthlessly against Sir Keir Starmer&#8217;s Labour Party. Up and down the country, Labour has been losing seats and control of councils, in places that were once considered its impregnable heartlands. The major beneficiary of this has been Nigel Farage&#8217;s Reform U.K., the populist right-wing party which many have dubbed a British answer to MAGA. Reform has steamrolled through seats in Labour strongholds like Sunderland, Hartlepool, Wigan, and Tameside. Around 5,000 council seats are being contested in England, and it looks like Reform U.K. will win over 1,500 of them, taking control of many councils.
Labour is not the only victim of Reform, either. Reform has taken Essex County Council and Suffolk County Council from the Conservatives. These two prosperous counties in the east of England are the sorts of places that would ordinarily vote Conservative like a muscle reflex. The party&#8217;s Shadow Cabinet is disproportionately drawn from this part of the country. Reform has taken control of both counties, and it has also secured control of its first London borough: Havering, which sits on the London and Essex border.
While some parts of Essex showed Conservative resilience — in parts of the county&#8217;s wealthier neighborhoods — the picture in England is becoming clear: Reform U.K. is starting to look like the default party of choice for Britain&#8217;s working- and middle-class voters, especially white British voters. The Conservatives made some gains in inner London, notably in Westminster and Wandsworth. Their victories there are a testament to the gross mismanagement of the capital city under Labour and the Tories&#8217; effective work in winning back the affluent working population in the capital.
Undoubtedly, immigration has played a huge part in Reform&#8217;s success. Epping, on the edge of London and Essex, saw huge demonstrations against illegal immigration last year after the government placed asylum seekers in hotels there. Reform has taken all but one council seat in Epping.
On the Left wing of the spectrum, the picture is a little different. Labour has lost seats to the Greens and the Liberal Democrats, and many pollsters predict breakthroughs for Muslim candidates standing on single-issue pro-Gaza platforms. These activists were once part of the wider Labour family but have left the reservation since 2023. Results are yet to come in for these urban, left-wing seats, but early findings are interesting. The Lib Dems have done well in leafy, progressive suburbia, taking every seat in Richmond and making huge gains in Surrey. American readers should draw parallels with the prosperous belt of liberal commuters outside of Washington, D.C.
The Greens have made headway in some of London&#8217;s very left-wing boroughs like Hackney, but early indications suggest that voters are hesitant about the Greens and worried about their radical Left economics and progressive social policies. However, the Greens appear to be the dominant force among young women — mirroring the left-wing drift among young women in America — as well as Muslim voters.
Full results have not been posted in Scotland and Wales. Reform has secured many second-place finishes in constituencies across Scotland, an impressive feat given it had essentially no presence there before 2024. Reform may become the official opposition in Scotland, though some results suggest Reform and the Scottish Conservatives have been canceling each other out in some seats, allowing soft victories for the Scottish National Party. In Wales, Reform is competing with Plaid Cymru — a left-wing Welsh nationalist party — for first place, though it looks like Plaid will pip Reform to the post. In both Scotland and Wales, Labour has hemorrhaged support.
Looking ahead, all eyes are on Labour MPs and whether they will try to remove Keir Starmer. He is unpopular in the extreme, and Labour has lost voters to the Right and the Left in large numbers. Reform called these elections a “referendum on Keir Starmer,” and that was a foresighted decision. What this holds for the 2029 General Election is uncertain. Reform remains in first place, but pollsters dispute whether it could secure an overall majority. The governing party is faced with a choice: continued decline under Starmer, or a wildcard replacement of Ed Miliband, Angela Rayner, Wes Streeting, or possibly Andy Burnham. Every option is bad in its own way, but one thing is clear: the British people have called time on Keir Starmer.
***
Fred de Fossard is the director of strategy at the Prosperity Institute.

Keir Starmer And The Labour Party’s No Good Very Bad Day

Reform Party

UK Elections

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