Labour urged to return to working class roots after two years of disastrous election results in the North East

Labour lost control of Sunderland, Gateshead, Newcastle and South Tyneside while also taking heavy losses in North Tyneside – all to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.

Of the seats that were up for grabs, Labour won just 20. Reform meanwhile took 161 seats in what was previously considered Labour’s heartland.

While the polls had left Labour feeling pessimistic prior to the elections, the scale of the losses were still seismic. Yet 12 months previously, the signs were there that Labour was losing its grip on North East voters.

The party lost all but four of its seats on Durham County Council as Reform swept to control, while in Northumberland the party fell to just eight seats behind both Reform and the Conservatives.

Labour MP for Blyth and Ashington Ian Lavery, who has called for a change at the top of Government in the wake of the results, said the party had failed to see the problems further down the road.

He said: “We saw the train hurtling down the track towards us last year and the party didn’t heed the incoming problems. The results in Durham and Northumberland were really bad – things were there to be seen and believe me, I have been discussing nothing else within the party since those elections and in the run up to these elections.

“For whatever reason, we haven’t got to grips with it In the likes of Gateshead, Sunderland, South Tyneside and Newcastle, we have seen some fantastic councillors who have given their lifetimes to their constituents and who have been wiped out.

“It is such a sad time to see people who I know personally and who have given their lives, commitment and dedication to community politics kicked out. It is really concerning.

“People in our communities have the right to vote for whoever they want to – that’s democracy. People are entitled to say they want change – but the grass isn’t always greener. I feel frightened for the future.”

While this year’s results have seen Prime Minister Keir Starmer face significant pressure to step aside, there was also significant anger towards the Labour leader last year.

Veteran Labour councillor Kath Nisbet, who lost her Croft ward seat to former Northumberland Reform UK leader Mark Peart after 24 years, said the national party had “shafted” local councillors. There was particular anger over the cuts to the winter fuel allowance, which she said represented an ‘attack’ on the poor.

Northumberland Labour leader Coun Scott Dickinson said local councillors often felt the brunt of decisions made by the national party.

He said: “A year ago the election results in Northumberland were devastating. Good local councillors were penalised because of mistakes at Government level and a pace of change that simply hasn’t matched what people need and want to see in their daily lives.

“Rather than attempting to blame local people, it should have been a warning that we were suffering because of things like winter fuel – which have now been corrected.

“It is a difficult situation for all, but there has to be some recognition that good local councillors were lost not through their own fault. Communities in Northumberland are poorer for not having those dedicated people in them.

“It was a result of what had happened nationally. We had a year of advance warning before these elections. I felt like nothing has changed in that time.

“Now, two weeks on from another disastrous result, it still feels like nobody is truly listening, reacting or changing course.

“Northumberland is now one of the largest groups in the North East with eight councillors. That is ludicrous.

“There should be a real sense of urgency in Westminster urgency to reconnect with communities, to focus on people’s priorities and to deliver the fundamental change that was promised.

“If 2025 wasn’t a wake-up call, and 2026 isn’t, how much more do they need befre they realise that their communication isn’t right? Some genuinely positive things have happened over the last two years and there are policies making a real difference which is something to be really proud of.

“The Government has done a lot of good things in the last two years such as breakfast clubs, which had pilots in Northumberland – thousands of children benefit from that.

“The threshold has also been extended for free school meals. The Government has also frozen fuel duty – all of those alleviating things to the cost of living are there, but they’re not being communicated so people aren’t feeling them, they aren’t connecting them together.”

“But too often all those achievements have been overshadowed by unnecessary mistakes, poor communication and decisions that have frustrated people instead of giving them confidence.”

Labour’s Coun Caroline Ball is now the party’s only councillor in South East Northumberland – previously a Labour stronghold. She held her seat by just six votes.

She said: “I just think people are disengaged from politics. People just aren’t engaging in any way, shape or form.

“It is really sad that people feel they don’t have a voice.

“A lot of people are unhappy with Labour. The reason I joined is it was the party of the workers. We’re there for the workers and the people that are struggling – we’re the party that created the NHS and I feel people think we’re forgetting that.

“People were annoyed by some of the early decisions made right out the door and we have lost some really good local councillors that have done decades of good work.

“They have faced the fallout of the wrong decisions. There hasn’t been the distinction between national and local politics.”

Labour is now behind Reform in the national polls, with a potential leadership challenge on the horizon. There is doubt it can win the next General Election, due to take place in 2029.

Asked what the party had to do to win back voters, Mr Lavery said: “There isn’t any political party that has a divine right to exist. Labour have got to prove to people that they should vote for us and give reasons why.

“We have to have a menu n how we’re going to improve people’s lives, better their communities. I think we have failed to get this communication across.

“I think people are fed up with the status quo and they feel everybody is the same. My view is quite simple – Labour need to represent the aims and the values which they had when the party was started in 1907.

“We need to remember we were formed to represent the working class, give a voice to the voiceless and we need to reassess where we are and get back to the roots.”

Coun Ball similarly called for a return to the party’s historic traditions. She said: “We need to get back to our grassroots. We need to put money in people’s pockets and answer some of the hard questions we’re facing.

“People are feeling worse off – and they shouldn’t. There are no easy answers – there’s no way to fix decades-long problems overnight. We need to have hard conversations.

“There are big companies that don’t pay proper wages and fleece the system and don’t pay enouygh tax – that’s where the problems are. It’s not people coming in on small boats or people on benefits.

However, Coun Dickinson was more cautious about a change in leadership.

He said: “There needs to be a big shift on communication and the ability to tackle those driving hate and division. I don’t think it’s as black and white as people want it to be.

“I don’t necessarily think changing he Prime Minister is the right route if that person doesn’t recognise the poor communication and the relationship with local councillors.”