Political Fix Election special: snap analysis

Political Fix Election special: snap analysis

Author: Financial Times May 9, 2026 Duration: 36:48

It’s been a dreadful night for Labour as council seats across the country have turned from red to turquoise. The Conservatives have not fared much better with Reform UK the big winner so far. With results still coming in, host Lucy Fisher discusses the fracturing of the vote and the future for beleaguered Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer with the FT’s deputy political editor Jim Pickard, Northern England correspondent Jen Williams and political columnist Stephen Bush.


Have a question for the panel? We’re planning a question and answer episode on Monday May 11. Email your questions to politicalfix@ft.com

Follow Lucy on X: @LOS_Fisher, and Bluesky: @lucyfisher.ft.com; Jim @PickardJE; Stephen @stephenkb & @stephenkb.bsky.social and Jen @JenWilliamsMEN and @jenwilliamsft.bsky.social


Want more? 

UK elections: Labour suffers heavy losses as Reform surges

Four things we learnt in the UK elections

Scale of defeat should shake ‘big two’ parties into serious action

Keir Starmer defies calls to quit after heavy Labour council losses

UK local and devolved elections: Hour-by-hour guide to key results

In Labour’s bleak moment, Andy Burnham relishes his own



Sign up here for Stephen Bush's morning newsletter Inside Politics for straight-talking insight into the stories that matter, plus puns and tongue (mostly) in cheek. Get 30 days free.


Presented by Lucy Fisher. Produced by Clare Williamson. Manuela Saragosa is the executive producer. Original music and mix by Breen Turner. The broadcast engineers were Andrew Giorgiades and Petros Gioumpasis. Cheryl Brumley is the FT’s global head of Audio.



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