The fight for Labour’s future

Labour lost two-thirds of council seats that it held in the fraught year of 2021 .

Nigel Farage's party won 85 per cent of the most deprived wards with 65.1% of the vote.

Reform represents a challenge to Labour ’s moral purpose’ rather than merely its electoral majority.

But it is economic arguments that are dominating.

Downing Street continues to identify cost of living as the defining electoral issue.

Blue Labour a group regularly hosted at No 10 calls for the outright abolition of the Treasury .

Soft left ministers demand looser fiscal rules (to prevent cuts to unprotected departments in the Spending Review ) and higher taxes on wealth.