that party is full of these sorts - a feature, not a bug - but this takes your breath away

To be fair, should also state this is by a clear margin the Conservatives worst-ever council result in the inner London boroughs in elections dating back to 1900, as well as the Lib Dems lowest share there since 1978.

Camera Glasses Guy won for both Essex CC and Basildon council seats, btw bylinetimes.com/2026/04/30/r...

Me doing my 'Don't Panic' thing in a letter to the Times in anticipation of yesterday's Starmer-(and Badenoch!)-geddon.

"Are there other multi million pound gifts that we don't know about?' SIX times Matt Chorley @mattchorley.bsky.social asks Zia Yusuf on #Newsnight - without an answer. Lewis Goodall @lewisgoodall.com comments on Harborne 🇹🇭🎁 & Ruth Davidson: "[Reform] didn't think that it was going to be found out"

6mins+ of Reform's Zia Yusuf bluffing & blubbering about Nigel Farage's £5M Thai g(r)ift from his Thai sugar daddy. Matt Chorley #Newsnight says: "You often come on the show…" So often but, WHY is this the FIRST TIME you've asked about this, @mattchorley.bsky.social? AFTER the election?! 🧵 1/2

Lib Dems control more English councils than the Conservative Party, the Green Party and Reform UK. Not that you'd know this from yesterday's coverage. The media's lack of curiosity and imagination and its inability to explore beyond the populist noise is as depressing as it is boringly predictable.

One London election vignette: now the Tories have retaken Westminster council, they will take legal action to try and stop the pedestrianisation of Oxford Street. Good news for those who like fumes, road danger and a gradually declining flagship shopping street.

We've uncovered how a content creator in Pakistan was earning money from viral videos that stir up hate in the UK – while lining the pockets of Big Tech – all without properly understanding English.

Bloody hell.

😡🇬🇧😡🇬🇧😡🇬🇧😡🇬🇧 From Threads. This is what Nigel Farage and his Hatefest politics has allowed to happen. If Keir Starmer resigns, he will *claim* it as a direct ‘result’ Of his campaigning. For that reason alone, he must stay.

😡🇬🇧😡🇬🇧😡🇬🇧😡🇬🇧😡 part 2…..

Reports the Greens will be supporting a Tory minority administration to try and prevent Crews Hill going ahead. But anyway, people told me Labour where lying when we said the Greens were NIMBYs who oppose new housing. 21k new homes here

Sunderland Reform councillor David Barker beat up his girlfriend and abused child www.thecanary.co/uk/analysis/...

In Sunderland, Reform stood David Barker. Who beat his girlfriend “black and blue”. He also neglected and burnt his child with cigarettes. He was handed a suspended sentence. It comes up when you Google him. He won in the council election. A vicious domestic abuser is now a Reform Councillor.

Coming back home, pondering how they'll fill their evenings now they've lost their seat.

Press takes:- 2024 - Labour win a landslide victory with 34% of the vote Press - Illegitimate, no-one wants Starmer, this is not a mandate 2026 - Farage wins the most council seats with 26% of the vote Press - The people have spoken, Nigel is Godlike, make him PM tomorrow, Starmer must resign

I interrupt your breakfast with news that Saiqa Ali, one of the two Green Party candidates in #Lambeth who was arrested on suspicion of stirring racial hatred and (apparently) suspended has been elected to the council.

A wall of crypto money is powering Nigel Farage, both politically and personally. And much of the British media just shrugs app.prospectmagazine.co.uk/story/73421/...

How about this as some headlines: *Reform went backwards on last year *Results in line with their falling poll score *They underperformed their polls in Scotland *If this had been a General, they wouldn't have won a majority even when the govt is phenomenally unpopular Bit of a different story?

Reform UK were rejected by more than 70% of voters yesterday, and the media is treating the result as terminal for Labour while almost entirely ignoring the fact that most people said no to the hatred, the division and the bigotry. That is the actual story.

Also exactly what I predicted. Though the Greens are a fair bit down on where I thought they'd be and Lab/Tories doing a bit better.

Sky News projecting a national vote share for Reform of 27%, based on results so far. That’s four points down on what they achieved in local elections last year. Somewhat of a counter to the prevailing narrative. More evidence that Reform appears to have peaked.

A guess a lot people will be spending a lot of today checking some slowly changing numbers on a BBC webpage. If you enjoy that sort of thing and want it to be a more than annual occurrence - can I recommend getting into county cricket?

Headlines are about SEAT changes: Lab losses, Reform gains. But, behind that, is a more complex pattern. Reform’s gains in VOTES are to a large degree at the expense of the Tories. Labour’s losses of VOTES are to a large degree to the Green & LibDems (& Nats in Wales and Scotland)

The Greens are making significant advances into the Labour vote. But that’s not translating into seats. The power of the Greens is that they can hand safe Lab seats (& the UK as a whole) on a platter to Reform. They can’t win, but they can be enough of a spoiler to ensure Lab loses & Reform wins.

Morning! We wake up to a more Remain leaning Labour election coalition (so far) in English locals- Labour vote down an average of 19 points in the most Leave wards, by an average of 13 points in the most Remain wards. Labour get an average of 24% in most Remain wards, 15% in most Leave wards

Exeter St Loyes ward - Con 25.3% Ref 25.5% LDs win...with 25.6%. Pure chaos. FPP fruit machine

Now three BBC keywards in, three different winners, and all have won with shares in the low 30s. This illustrate the immense pressure fragmentation will put on the FPP electoral system used in local elections

First BBC keyward in Peterborough - Con and Lab both down sharply, Reform and Greens both up sharply, Lib Dems up a few points...and LDs take the seat with just 31.5% of the vote. Fragmentation in action - expect plenty more of this...

I expect far better from our national broadcaster. The BBC's role should be to elevate the public sphere, not demean it with this kind of pitiful twaddle.

Now a SECOND such incident in the space of 24 hours. A bus passenger arrested in Hackney after alleged Hitler & gas chamber comments to Jews. The suspect reportedly also claimed to have a knife and threatened Jewish passengers on the 254 bus, including children. www.jewishnews.co.uk/bus-passenge...

Here's Nigel Farage's "Tiktok guru" and adviser, Jack Anderton, telling GB News that he would be "worried" if the Jewish population was growing in the UK. When do we start seeing all the coverage about the antisemitism crisis in Reform UK?

Failed legal challenges have delayed major infrastructure projects like new roads and power stations by a collective 32 years. Labour recently changed the law to cut the time it takes to throw out anti-infrastructure lawsuits. And it's working. www.samdumitriu.com/p/the-planni...

Reminder that the actual Conservative Party put out a press release suggesting that this theft was actually part of a government "cover up". www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Some good news! A legal challenge against an important solar power project was dismissed as without merit, likely much quicker than before the Planning and Infrastructure Act came into force. More could always be done. But the Act appears to be working. www.samdumitriu.com/p/the-planni...

He who pays the piper, calls the tune. Farage is the Paid Piper of Harborne. It’s your children’s futures this time. This isn’t a fairy tale. Get real.

Reject the party of Nathan Gill, Wales.

Toxic chemicals used as weed killers to enable better crop growth is one thing. But spraying them on crops just before harvest to dry them out (not fight weeds in any way) - is a step too far. www.standard.co.uk/business/bus...

“This is why it matters… join the dots.” Thangam Debbonaire @thangamdebbonaire.bsky.social lays out Farage’s £5M Thai g(r)ift 🆎💰 Gillian Keegan’s mind is blown 🤯 🥤 milkshakes vs 2 murdered MPs 💸 private vs political 👓 £5M vs glasses & suits Also, who’s being paid to provide the security? 🧐

I, a Liberal Democrat, just voted tactically for Labour to stop the worst, most dangerous party of my lifetime, winning in my area. Vote tactically today! Keep Reform UK out.

Today is election day - and every vote matters. Across our city, Labour councils are delivering for Londoners every day - from building council homes to investment in local schools and opportunities for young Londoners. Polls are open until 10pm - remember photo ID. #DogsAtPollingStations

The scrutiny of Zack Polanski is much needed. Apart from his fantasy economics,dangerous defence policy, hypocritical Green ideals(Green mps campaigned to stop essential Green infra to transport wind energy North to South bc their Nimbys didn't like it). But the character of the man obsessed 1/2

Can reporters stop using the word deal? It’s an agreement, a settlement, a treaty, an understanding, an MOU etc. Using the word deal is accepting his simple-minded TV game-show framing and contributes to the bogus drama he is trying to create.

Question: why would anyone give the matches back to the arsonists whose ideology trashed this country?! Please please please, think about your vote. Don't let Reform destroy this country just as it starts to get back on its feet!! They won't invest in your community. They're all former Tories!!

I said yesterday morning on my LBC call that the best the USA can hope for in this conflict is to return to the status quo of 6 months ago. It would seem the Secretary of State agrees. Today is a waiting day I think - so feel free to ask questions and I will try to answer. #Hormuz #IranWar

it's not a lack of evidence which is stopping outlets from holding him to account and calling him out for what he is, it's apparently a lack of will

Last year @dsmitheconomics.bsky.social noted the relative strength of household finances and predicted the UK economy might outperform expectations as a result. Seems he was right - but of course Trump's war means we may not feel the benefits for long. www.thetimes.com/business/eco...

Labour’s eve-of-poll squeeze messaging on the Greens in London: You like Sadiq, don’t trust the Greens with your bins.