The New Statesman.

Happy 2026 from the New Statesman podcast.

I'm Anous Shekelian and I'm joined now to look ahead to the new year with my colleague Ben Walker.

Hi, Ben.

Hello.

A few days ago on the podcast, we looked back at the biggest stories of 2025.

So now we want to look at what's in store

for British politics in 2026. Ben, I think we've got to kick off with the looming May elections.

I mean, they were the talk of 2025. So they're certainly going to be the talk of the beginning of

this year. How are things currently shaking up? Give us an overview of what's up for grabs in May.

Yes. So this will be Thursday the 7th of May, 26. And just to summarize it,

bluntly, it will be D-Day, I think, for the UK Prime Minister, Sekeir Stalma, unless

something else goes horribly wrong for him.

If you had a map of the UK in front of you, I want you to look at it and I want you to imagine

you're going to have elections in Scotland.

All of Scotland, the Scottish Parliament, will be going to the polls again.

They last went up in 2021.

You have the Welsh Senate, two Ds in Welsh's TH, so Senneth, not Senned.

All of that is up, last up in 2021, just after the COVID bounce for all incumbents.

So every incumbent party in 2021 did rather well for much of England.

That was Boris Johnson.

For Wales, it was Mark

...