Summary

  • Reform UK chairman Zia Yusuf has defended his party's election promises and tells Laura Kuenssberg that Reform UK will use any tool available to limit migration in areas they control

  • Meanwhile, the Conservatives' leader Kemi Badenoch says "protest is in the air", while Labour's Health Secretary Wes Streeting asks the public for more time, as both parties digest big local election losses

  • The Liberal Democrats are the party of "Middle England", their leader Sir Ed Davey says, but Laura questions whether their approach is alienating others in the country

  • Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay says Reform has done well but adds the party isn't built on strong foundations

  • If the idea of Farage in No 10 seemed outlandish in January, the backing of millions of voters this week shows it's not a wild notion, writes Laura Kuenssberg

Live Reporting

Edited by Tinshui Yeung and Jack Burgess

  1. Guests take their seats as show begins

    Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg

    Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg is now under way.

    As a quick reminder, she’ll be joined by guests from five political parties:

    • Labour: Wes Streeting, health secretary
    • Conservatives: Kemi Badenoch, leader
    • The Liberal Democrats: Ed Davey, leader
    • The Green Party: Adrian Ramsay, co-leader
    • Reform UK: Zia Yusuf, chairman

    You can follow along with the programme by clicking Watch Live at the top of this page, and our team of writers will be providing regular text updates.

    Stick with us.

  2. Watch: Key moments from the local elections

    Watch: Key moments from the elections... in 92 seconds

  3. Disappointing, determined, divisive: How party leaders reacted

    Starmer delivering a speech - he is wearing a dark suit with a white shirt and brown tie - there is a group of people behind himPA Media

    Starmer answered questions about the local election during a visit to Luton yesterday

    Keir Starmer said Labour's losses were "disappointing" and that the party needs to "go further and we need to go faster on the change that people want to see".

    Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said she was "determined to win back" trust and that the Tories "are rebuilding with a clear strategy to renew our party and transform our country for the better".

    Reform UK leader Nigel Farage called their election performance "a truly historic landmark" which "marks the end of two party politics as we've known it for over a century".

    Ed Davey said the Liberal Democrats are "the new party of Middle England", and he believed Conservative and Labour voters were turning to them.

    The Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay said "the era of two party politics is over. The threat now is Reform's divisive politics".

    Ed Davey stands next to a woman - they both hold an ice cream as they pose to the cameraPA Media

    Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey served ice cream in hot weather in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, to thank voters after the local elections

  4. Reform added fifth MP to its ranks in Labour safe seat

    Nigel Farage and Sarah Pochin pose to the cameraReuters

    As we've mentioned, this week's local elections saw Reform UK make big gains across England.

    This includes the Runcorn and Helsby by-election – one of Labour’s safest seats.

    The election was called after former Labour MP Mike Amesbury resigned, following his conviction for assaulting a constituent.

    It was a tense night, with Labour asking for a recount after initial results put Nigel Farage’s party ahead by just four votes. In the end, Reform UK's Sarah Pochin was elected as the party’s fifth MP, winning by a tiny margin of six votes.

    These results break the previous post-war record for the closest by-election, which the Liberals won by 57 votes in Berwick-upon-Tweed in 1973.

  5. The local election results - at a glance

    Reform UK were the biggest winners. They gained 677 council seats, took control of 10 councils, won the closely fought Runcorn and Helsby by-election, and clinched two mayoral wins.

    The Liberal Democrats boosted their council seats by 163 and took control of three councils.

    Labour lost 187 seats, but managed to secure three mayoral contests – North Tyneside, Doncaster and West of England.

    Conservatives suffered big losses. They lost 674 council seats and lost all 16 councils they previously held. However, they had some reason to celebrate when Paul Bristow won the mayoral race in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

    The Green Party gained 44 council seats but were left disappointed by the results of the West of England mayoral race.

    Independent candidates ended the day with 89 councillors across pockets of England.

    Map showing council results, 10 for reform, three for lib dem, 10 for no party majority

    In the local council elections, 10 regions ended the count with no party majority

  6. This week proves Nigel Farage's PM ambition is not a wild notion

    Laura Kuenssberg
    Presenter, Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg

    A treated image of a black ballot box with a voting slip marked with a black X being inserted into it. Laura Kuenssberg is editing on top, wearing a pink blazer with her arms crossed.Getty Images

    In the first week of 2025, Nigel Farage told me his ultimate goal was to become prime minister. It stuck in my mind that he chose to add: "I'm not joking."

    Nobody in the two traditional main parties finds his stunning success this week funny. "Farage is no longer someone we can just laugh off," a former Conservative cabinet minister told me. If the idea of Farage in No 10 seemed outlandish in January, the backing of millions of voters this week shows it's not a wild notion.

    The next General Election is, of course, miles away. Parties can surge and sink. But this week's results show that Farage has changed the race.

  7. Badenoch, Streeting and Reform chairman to be grilled after local election results

    Tinshui Yeung
    Live page editor

    Reform party leader Nigel Farage (centre) and Chairman Zia Yusuf (left) celebrate after their party won the Runcorn and Helsby by-election. Farage wears a black suit and striped tie and smiles with his hands in the air. Yusuf, wearing a black suit and blue tie, smiles and claps.Reuters

    Reform party leader Nigel Farage (centre) and Chairman Zia Yusuf (left) celebrate after their party won the Runcorn and Helsby by-election

    Good morning. Welcome to this week's live coverage of Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.

    Like most weeks, we have a jam-packed show today with guests from across the political landscape. But few Sundays feel quite as seismic as this one, politically speaking.

    The results from England's local elections earlier this week saw, as the BBC's political editor Chris Mason puts it, a “profound moment in our contemporary politics”. Nigel Farage's Reform UK made sweeping gains and took control of 10 local councils, won two mayoral races and added a fifth MP to its ranks.

    The Liberal Democrats and Greens also surged, while Labour and the Tories suffered heavy losses, prompting Farage to declare "the end of two party-politics".

    Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch will be grilled on the show, along with Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey, Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay and Reform's Chairman, Zia Yusuf.

    We'll be providing you live updates and analysis, and you can follow the show by clicking Watch live at the top of this page. Stick with us.