This has to rank as the biggest upheaval in British politics in more than a century, since 1924, when Ramsay MacDonald led the first-ever Labour government in the United Kingdom.
Fast forward to 2026 and the off-year municipal and regional elections held on Thursday. Left-wing Labour was obviously the biggest loser.
In city council elections held across England, the current majority party in the national Parliament finished a distant second to the upstart right-wing Reform party. Labour lost most of the seats it was defending.
In the election for the Welsh parliament, Labour went from first to third, winning just nine seats and losing 35 they had previously held. The local nationalist party, Plaid Cymru, emerged as the largest party, but still short of a majority. Reform went from zero seats to 34, good enough for 2nd place and official opposition status. The Conservatives fell from 2nd to a distant fourth.
In Scotland, the local national party (SNP) kept their first place position, but also fell further below the level needed short of a majority. Previously, the local Conservatives had formed the official opposition, but on Thursday they fell into fourth place.
In the English city council races, the Conservatives fell into fourth place, behind even the the third-party Liberal Democrats. The nearly four-century-old party appears to be on the brink of extinction.
What appears to be a two-party system, for the most part has shattered into a five-party system, with unknown and unknowable implications going forward.
