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Top pollster Sir John Curtice has spotted a worrying trend for Labour in its disastrous local election results that will likely have Sir Keir Starmer fretting. The Prime Minister's party has taken a battering after losing 204 councillors overnight, with Nigel Farage's Reform UK triumphantly scooping hundreds of Red Wall seats.

The already dreadful picture is only likely to get worse on Friday, when most other local authorities declare their results. Labour is expected to be crushed in former heartlands such as Wales. In an assessment for the BBC, Sir John said Reform "are certainly the winners" after taking 30% of council seats declared so far.

He said Labour and the Tories had "suffered a sharp drop in support", with the ruling party's vote down 19 points compared with 2024.

But even more worryingly for the Prime Minister, the professor of politics at Strathclyde University said: "The drop has been especially sharp in places where the party was previously strongest and in wards where many people identify as Muslim."

Labour has lost control of seven councils, including Tameside in former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner's constituency.

Labour has long been in power there, but now is in no overall control after losing 16 of the 17 seats it was defending to Reform.

A defiant Sir Keir Starmer has said that he is "not going to walk away" despite the terrible results.

There have been widespread calls for the crisis-hit PM to quit in recent weeks after he was engulfed by the Lord Mandelson scandal and a series of controversial policies.

But asked if he had contemplated resignation, he told broadcasters on Friday: "The voters have sent a message about the pace of change, how they want their lives improved.

"I was elected to meet those challenges, but I'm not going to walk away from those challenges."

Cabinet ministers have defended the embattled PM, with his deputy David Lammy saying on Friday: "You don't change a pilot mid-flight."

However, there are reports that Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has privately urged Sir Keir to set a timetable for his departure.