Elections 2026: Fragmentation nation

Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government

Institute for Government

Politics, News, Government

4.5 • 279 Ratings

🗓️ 8 May 2026

⏱️ 62 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Keir Starmer and Labour government have just faced their biggest electoral test since the 2024 general election. Reform are on the rise. The SNP have made big gains. And Plaid Cymru are making history in Wales. The consequences for British politics could be huge. So what happens next? What will results mean for who governs in Holyrood? Is Wales ready for a whole new governing party? What will the changes - big changes - to England's electoral map mean for Keir Starmer's prospects? And how significant will Thursday night's votes be for the future of the United Kingdom? Hannah White and Akash Paun present. With Matthew Fright, Harriet Shaw and Megan Isaac. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Kier Stama and the Labour government have just faced their biggest electoral test since the 2024 general election.
0:15.0	And the consequences for British politics could be huge. So what happens next?
0:20.4	I'm Hannah White and this is Inside Briefing, the podcast from
0:23.3	the Institute for Government. So we've had votes for the Scottish Parliament, for the Welsh Parliament,
0:29.0	and in council seats all across England. So what do the results mean for who governs in Hollywood?
0:34.8	Is Wales ready for a whole new governing party? What were the changes,
0:38.4	big changes to England's electoral map mean for Kirstarmer's prospects? And how significant will
0:43.9	Thursday nights votes be for the future of the United Kingdom? Well, the Institute for Government's
0:48.8	brilliant devolution team, Akash Pound, Matthew Freight, Harriet Shaw and Meghan Isaac have been following every twist and turn of the run-up to this week's elections and are now turning their expertise to the consequences.
1:01.6	And the team is gathered at the IFG on Friday. It's the afternoon after polling day to record a must-watch webinar.
1:08.6	So good that this week's insideing is going to bring you the recording
1:11.5	of their discussion. So now, over to Akash and the team. Lots of results come in so far, many more
1:19.0	to come still. But of the ones we've seen so far, I'm just interested, guys, like, what stood out,
1:24.6	what's been the most striking or interesting results for whatever reasons?
1:29.3	Matthew, how about you?
1:30.3	Well, I'm probably going to go for one that isn't really in line with the national trends.
1:34.3	It was in Richmond, Richmond on Thames, not in Yorkshire, and the council's now got 54 Lib Dem councillors and is entirely made up of Lib Dems.
1:43.3	And I think that's going to be fascinating
1:45.1	on how it actually holds itself to account and all manner of questions asked about having just
1:51.1	a monoculture in charge for a council really. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not sure if that's true or not,
1:56.7	but it's probably one of the first times the Lib Dems have ever had every seat on a council.
2:01.6	There's definitely been some Labour one-party fiefdoms.
	...

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