Skip to main content
The Morning Star Shop
A welcome blow to Ukip in the local elections

MEDIA pundits and anti-socialist Labour MPs are still queuing up to pronounce last week’s local election results in England a triumph for the Tories and a defeat for Jeremy Corbyn.

But one aspect of the results is beyond question. Last Thursday dealt a near fatal blow to Ukip. 

The party lost all but three of the 126 council seats it was defending, taking Ukip to the brink of the political grave. The other, more toxic, British National Party failed to stand any candidates at all. Since its high water mark in 2009, when the BNP could boast 55 local councillors, the “party” — if that’s not too polite a word for a racist street gang in suits — has degenerated to the point of disintegration.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
A ballot box arriving during the count for the Blackpool South by-election at Blackpool Sports Centre, Blackpool, May 2, 2024
Features / 19 July 2025
19 July 2025

In the run-up to the Communist Party congress in November ROB GRIFFITHS outlines a few ideas regarding its participation in the elections of May 2026

Claudia Jones
Features / 27 February 2025
27 February 2025
From McCarthy’s prison cells to London’s carnival, Jones fought for peace and unity while exposing the lies of US imperialism, says ROBERT GRIFFITHS, in a graveside oration at Highgate Cemetery given last Sunday
REDISTRIBUTION NOW: Protesters march against austerity measu
Features / 4 November 2024
4 November 2024
In the second of two articles on Labour’s weak Budget, ROBERT GRIFFITHS argues that Britain’s massive private wealth and offshore tax havens show clear potential for radical redistribution through progressive taxation
Features / 3 November 2024
3 November 2024
In the first of two articles, ROBERT GRIFFITHS argues that despite a parliamentary majority, Labour’s timid Budget fails to seize a historic opportunity and lacks the ambition needed to address Britain’s deep social and economic crises
Similar stories
The vote count on May 1 at Grimsby Town Hall, Lincolnshire, for the Greater Lincolnshire Mayor election
Features / 6 May 2025
6 May 2025

With Reform UK surging and Labour determined not to offer anything different from the status quo, a clear opportunity opens for the left, argues CLAUDIA WEBBE

PUBLIC SNUB: People protesters outside the Reform UK Wiltshi
Features / 15 March 2025
15 March 2025
As anti-immigration rhetoric gains mainstream acceptance, trade unions must unite workers across backgrounds while challenging the false narrative that blames migrants for economic hardship, argues TONY CONWAY
An anti-racism ‘Unity Over Division’ counter-protest in
Features / 26 October 2024
26 October 2024
Our message on today’s demonstration is that we can stop the fascists – but to do so it’s essential that we mobilise, says WEYMAN BENNETT of Stand Up to Racism