Starmer ‘performed worse than Corbyn outside London’, says elections expert

‘Very little sign’ of progress for Labour in key Red Wall areas of Midlands and North, says Curtice

The Labour leader, Keir Starmer (PA)

Keir Starmer performed worse than Jeremy Corbyn in last night’s local elections outside London, a leading polling expert has said.

Despite the party claiming historic victories in London, Professor Sir John Curtice said that, from results announced overnight, Labour’s share of the vote and numbers of seats won outside the capital were actually lower than the last time the seats were contested in 2018.

There was “very little sign” of the party making progress in Brexit-backing areas of the North and Midlands which fell to Conservatives in 2019, when Boris Johnson made deep inroads into the so-called Red Wall of Labour’s traditional heartlands.