No amount of Labour spin will disguise the party’s dreadful night, but the hefty losses of seats in English council areas are nothing more than was expected. The bigger story of the night is the failure of the Greens to make any meaningful breakthrough. With 40 councils so far declared – a minority, as most did not count votes overnight and will declare this afternoon – the Greens have made a net gain of just 25 seats, less than a tenth of the gains made by Reform UK. They are running at around 18 per cent of the popular vote, while Reform UK are pushing 30 per cent.

The Greens have made a net gain of just 25 seats, less than a tenth of the gains made by Reform UK

The Greens have made a net gain of just 25 seats, less than a tenth of the gains made by Reform UK

This matters because for months Zack Polanski and the Greens have been promoted (and not just by themselves) as the mirror image of Nigel Farage and Reform UK: they are supposed to be the insurgent party of the Left to........

© The Spectator