British Prime Minister Keir Starmer insisted he will remain in his position, after his party’s dismal showing in Friday’s local elections triggered calls for him to resign. 

Starmer’s governing Labour Party saw bruising losses in the United Kingdom’s local and regional elections, making way for Nigel Farage’s Reform Party, an anti-establishment movement, to make critical gains. Among other victories, Reform picked up hundreds of local council seats in areas considered solid Labour territory in the country’s northern region. In Wales, Labour’s deputy first minister David Lammy told the BBC he’s expecting the party to lose power, which hasn’t happened in 27 years. Local election voting in the United Kingdom is often interpreted as a referendum on the national government similar to the Midterm elections in the United States being a referendum on the administration.