How to watch Britain’s ‘midterm’ election results like a pro – POLITICO

LONDON — Tens of millions of Brits are voting Thursday in elections that could hasten the fragmentation of U.K. politics — and make Keir Starmer’s job as prime minister even more precarious.

Voters will choose more than 5,000 English councilors in 136 councils, including all 32 London boroughs; six mayors in England; all 129 members of the Scottish Parliament; and all 96 members of an expanded Welsh parliament, the Senedd. 

Starmer is not expected to face a U.K. general election until 2029, but these sprawling contests are the equivalent of his midterms. Since a 2024 landslide his center-left Labour Party has plunged in national opinion polls and been overtaken by Nigel Farage’s right-wing Reform UK. Labour now jostles for second place with the left-wing Green Party and center-right Conservatives while the centrist Liberal Democrats lag in fifth, according to POLITICO’s Poll of Polls.