LONDON: UK polling stations opened Thursday in local elections set to heap more pressure on beleaguered Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer and showcase the rise of hard-right and left-wing populists. Polls opened at 7:00 am (0600 GMT) across Scotland, England, and Wales in the ballot that is Starmer&#39;s biggest electoral test since his July 2024 general election landslide victory ended 14 years of Conservative rule. Opinion polls predict grim results for Labour, which could amplify calls for Starmer, 63, to resign or face a long-rumoured party leadership challenge. The prime minister and his wife voted at a polling station near parliament in Westminster. Nigel Farage&#39;s anti-immigrant Reform UK and the left-wing Greens, led by self-described eco-populist Zack Polanski, are expected to be the main beneficiaries of widespread disillusionment. Melanie Garson, associate professor of politics at University College London, said the vote was a &quot;huge barometer for how the country is feeling about this political establishment&quot;. &quot;We&#39;ve got, for the first time, significant pressure on the main political parties across every single council.&quot; Polls will close at 10:00 pm. Some results are expected overnight, but most will not come until later on Friday. Around 5,000 local council seats, out of 16,000, are up for grabs across England, while in Wales and Scotland, voters will elect new devolved parliaments. Starmer swept to power following 14 years of largely chaotic Conservative rule defined by austerity, Brexit, and the tanking of the economy under former prime minister Liz Truss. But critics say he has swerved from one policy misstep to another, and he has been embroiled in a scandal over Peter Mandelson, who was sacked as ambassador to Washington over his links to US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Starmer has also failed to fulfil his main promise of spurring economic growth, with impatient Britons still suffering a cost-of-living crisis, including from high energy prices. &quot;The change hasn&#39;t been delivered, or the change that has been delivered has been negative,&quot; Garson told AFP. Leadership challenge?Starmer said on Wednesday there was a &quot;clear choice&quot; at the ballot box. &quot;Unity or division. Progress versus the politics of anger.&quot; Labour has also fought back, unearthing racist remarks by some Reform candidates and antisemitic comments by certain Green hopefuls. But Starmer is now one of the most unpopular prime ministers ever, and surveys suggest Labour will lose control of the devolved Welsh government in Cardiff for the first time since Wales got its own parliament 27 years ago. A More in Common poll published Tuesday projected Reform is neck-and-neck with the pro-independence Plaid Cymru in Labour&#39;s former heartland. Labour is also fearful of a drubbing in Scotland, where the Scottish National Party is expected to extend its 19-year control of the devolved parliament in Edinburgh. YouGov has predicted that Reform could force Labour into third place there. &quot;The message is clear: if you want real change, you&#39;d better vote for it, and we go into tomorrow feeling pretty optimistic about our prospects,&quot; Farage said. Labour also looks set for big losses in London as the Greens pick up disaffected left-wingers in urban areas with a pro-Gaza message. Pollster Robert Hayward has predicted the UK&#39;s ruling party could lose about 1,850 of the roughly 2,550 local authority seats it is defending. Hayward has tipped Reform to take 1,550 seats from Labour and Kemi Badenoch&#39;s right-wing Conservatives -- mostly in white, working-class areas. The Conservatives are also bracing for the loss of traditional strongholds. &quot;The two-party era has moved into a multi-party era,&quot; Badenoch told PA news agency. &quot;But the fact is none of these new parties or Labour have a plan for the country.&quot; Britain&#39;s media is full of rumors that ex-deputy prime minister Angela Rayner or Health Secretary Wes Streeting could try to oust Starmer after the results. Neither is universally popular within Labour, however, and would need the backing of 20% of the party&#39;s MPs to launch a contest. Some Labour lawmakers are reportedly planning to demand that Starmer set a date for his departure. He has insisted he will lead the party into the next general election, likely in 2029.

A polling clerk hangs up a sign reminding people to show ID as they turn up to vote in local elections at a mobile polling station in Walton-on-the-Naze, eastern England on May 7, 2026. (AFP)

United Kingdom

UK polling stations opened Thursday in local elections set to heap more pressure on beleaguered Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer and showcase the rise of hard-right and left-wing populists.

Britons set to punish Starmer's Labour in local polls

BEIJING: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer begins a three-day visit to China on Wednesday, where he will defend London&#39;s &quot;pragmatic&quot; partnership with the Asian giant after years of fraught relations. It is the first visit to Beijing by a UK prime minister since 2018 and follows a string of Western leaders courting Beijing in recent weeks, pivoting from a mercurial United States. Starmer will also make a brief stop in Japan to meet with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. For Chinese President Xi Jinping, the trip is an opportunity to show Beijing can be a reliable partner at a time when President Donald Trump&#39;s policies have rattled historic ties between Washington and its Western allies. Starmer, who is battling record-low popularity polls and hopes the visit can boost Britain&#39;s beleaguered economy, is to arrive in Beijing around 09:30 GMT on Wednesday. He will meet with Xi for lunch on Thursday, followed by a meeting with Premier Li Qiang. The talks will touch upon &quot;trade, investment and national security,&quot; Downing Street said in a statement, with Starmer promising &quot;stability and clarity in the government&#39;s approach&quot;. Starmer said on Wednesday this visit to China was &quot;going to be a really important trip for us&quot;, vowing to make &quot;some real progress&quot;. There are &quot;opportunities&quot; to deepen bilateral relations, Starmer told reporters traveling with him on the plane to China. &quot;It doesn&#39;t make sense to stick our head in the ground and bury in the sand when it comes to China; it&#39;s in our interests to engage and not compromise on national security,&quot; he added. China, for its part, &quot;is willing to take this visit as an opportunity to enhance political mutual trust&quot;, foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said ahead of the trip. Faced with Trump&#39;s threats to impose tariffs on Canada for signing a trade agreement with China, and the US president&#39;s attempts to create a new international institution with his &quot;Board of Peace&quot;, Beijing has been affirming its support for the United Nations to visiting leaders. Reset tiesUK-China relations plummeted in 2020 after Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law on Hong Kong, which severely curtailed freedoms in the former British colony. They soured further, with both powers exchanging accusations of spying. Starmer, however, was quick to deny fresh claims of Chinese spying after the Telegraph newspaper reported Monday that China had hacked the mobile phones of senior officials in Downing Street for several years. &quot;There&#39;s no evidence of that. We&#39;ve got robust schemes, security measures in place as you&#39;d expect,&quot; he told reporters on Wednesday. Since taking the helm in 2024, Starmer has been at pains to reset ties with the world&#39;s second-largest economy and Britain&#39;s third-biggest trade partner. In China, he will be accompanied by around 60 business leaders from the finance, pharmaceutical, automobile, and other sectors, and cultural representatives as he tries to balance attracting vital investment and appearing firm on national security concerns. The Labour leader also spoke to Xi on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Brazil in November 2024. Jimmy Lai&nbsp;The prime minister is also expected to raise the case of Hong Kong media mogul and democracy supporter Jimmy Lai, 78, a British national facing years in prison after being found guilty of collusion charges in December. When asked by reporters about his plans to discuss Lai&#39;s case, Starmer avoided specifics, but said engaging with Beijing was to ensure that &quot;issues where we disagree can be discussed&quot;. Reporters Without Borders urged Starmer in a letter to secure Lai&#39;s release during his visit. The British government has also faced fierce domestic opposition after it approved this month contentious plans for a new Chinese mega-embassy in London, which critics say could be used to spy on and harass dissidents.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer Keir Starmer delivering his first address as prime minister of the United Kingdom, 10 Downing Street, London, July 5, 2024. (FILE/Encyclopedia Britannica)

China

In an effort to boost trade and reset strained ties, Britain’s prime minister travels to Beijing for talks with Chinese leaders, seeking investment and diplomatic engagement while balancing shifting global alliances.

Articles tagged with "Starmer"

Britons set to punish Starmer's Labour in local polls

Starmer lands in China to defend 'pragmatic' partnership

Britons set to punish Starmer's Labour in local polls