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May 2025 - UK political discourse

Thursday, May 1st:

  • United Kingdom local elections take place.
  • Reform UK achieves significant gains, winning 677 of around 1,600 contested seats in the English local elections. Their gains primarily come at the expense of the Conservatives.
  • Reform UK also wins the Runcorn and Helsby by-election and the Lincolnshire mayoral election.
  • The Liberal Democrats gain an additional 160 seats and take control of Oxfordshire, Shropshire, and Cambridgeshire County Councils.

Sunday, May 4th:

  • Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch tells the BBC that a change of leader would not "fix everything" after the party's heavy local election losses, stating the Conservatives will "come out fighting."

Monday, May 5th:

  • Reform UK is forced to clarify that county standards will continue to fly from council buildings in councils they control. This follows controversy after chairman Zia Yusuf stated only the Union Flag and St George's Flag would be permitted.
  • Donna Edmunds, a Reform UK councillor elected in Shropshire on May 1st, resigns from the party after being suspended for tweeting her intention to defect.

Tuesday, May 6th:

  • The UK government states it has no plans to reverse cuts to winter fuel payments, despite increasing calls from within the Labour Party to do so.

Thursday, May 8th:

  • 42 Labour MPs sign a letter calling for changes to proposed cuts to disability benefits.
  • John Swinney, First Minister of Scotland, announces he will not support assisted suicide in Scotland.
  • Carla Denyer confirms she will not be a candidate in the 2025 Green Party of England and Wales leadership election.
  • Reform UK councillor Sean Matthews is selected as the new leader of Lincolnshire County Council.
  • Luke Shingler, Reform UK councillor for Nuneaton's Galley Common on Warwickshire County Council, leaves the party to sit as an independent.

Monday, May 12th:

  • Adrian Ramsay and Ellie Chowns launch a joint campaign to become co-leaders of the Green Party of England and Wales in the upcoming leadership election.

Tuesday, May 13th:

  • Labour MP Tahir Ali is under investigation by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority due to excessive expenses.
  • Conservative MP Patrick Spencer is charged with two sexual assaults that allegedly occurred at London's Groucho Club.
  • MSPs in Scotland vote 70–56 in an initial vote to accept the principles of the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill, which would allow assisted dying in Scotland.
  • Reform UK leader Nigel Farage states he will not stand in the 2026 Senedd election and has no plans to lead the party in Wales.

Wednesday, May 14th:

  • The Crown Prosecution Service announces that former Reform MP Rupert Lowe will not face charges over alleged threats to party chairman Zia Yusuf.

Thursday, May 15th:

  • Rupert Lowe, who was suspended from the Reform UK party in March, accuses Nigel Farage of running the party like a cult.

Friday, May 16th:

  • Welsh Conservatives leader Darren Millar tells his party's annual conference that the Conservatives may need to collaborate with Plaid Cymru or Reform UK to form a government after the next Senedd election.

Saturday, May 17th:

  • Darren Millar describes Reform UK as a "one-man personality cult" with no serious solution for Wales.

Sunday, May 18th:

  • Former Conservative cabinet minister Michael Gove tells BBC Scotland's The Sunday Show that he doesn't believe a second Scottish independence referendum is necessary, but it could happen if there was "overwhelming support."
  • David Clews, a conspiracy theorist, and Mark Collett, a Nazi-sympathiser who founded the far-right Patriotic Alternative, call for supporters to "infiltrate" Reform UK following its recent success to promote their "pro-white" and anti-immigration agenda.

Tuesday, May 20th:

  • Keir Starmer apologises to Liz Saville-Roberts, Plaid Cymru's leader at Westminster, after saying "she talks rubbish" during the previous week's Prime Minister's Questions.

Wednesday, May 21st:

  • Conservative Garry Perry resigns as leader of Walsall Council with immediate effect, citing a "campaign of political attrition, deliberate undermining, and personal hostility."
  • Tameside Council appoints Brenda Warrington as its standards watchdog, despite her involvement in a controversial WhatsApp group that led to the suspension of several Labour councillors and MPs.

Thursday, May 22nd:

  • Reform UK is accused of "blatant" racism by Scottish Labour over an online advert claiming Anas Sarwar will "prioritise the Pakistani community."
  • Welsh Labour expels Cardiff councillor Keith Jones after an investigation found he had sexually harassed a teenager.

Friday, May 23rd:

  • Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch states she cannot commit to fully restoring winter fuel payments to pensioners.

Sunday, May 25th:

  • Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner refuses to confirm whether the government will remove the two-child benefit cap in the 2025 budget.
  • Nigel Farage says that Reform UK would scrap the two-child benefit cap and restore winter fuel payments to pensioners if elected.
  • Labour's renationalisation of the UK's railways begins as the train operator South Western Railway is taken into public ownership.

Monday, May 26th:

  • King Charles III and Queen Camilla begin a two-day visit to Canada, where the King will deliver a Speech from the Throne in the Canadian Parliament, the first such speech in the country for 50 years.

Tuesday, May 27th:

  • King Charles III addresses the opening session of the 45th Canadian Parliament, receiving a standing ovation after a speech supporting Canada staying "strong and free."
  • Nigel Farage announces that a future Reform UK government would introduce generous tax breaks for married couples to make it easier for them to have children, and would also scrap the two-child benefit cap.

Thursday, May 29th:

  • The UK government reveals its plans for overhauling pension investment funds to create models similar to those in Australia and Canada. These plans include creating £25 billion "megafunds" instructed to make a portion of their investments locally to boost economic growth.
  • In a speech attacking Reform policy, Keir Starmer accuses Farage of "fantasy economics" and warns that his unfunded tax cuts would "crash the economy" like Liz Truss.
  • Former Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross is ejected from the Scottish Parliament during First Minister's Questions for talking over John Swinney's answer. Ross later questions the neutrality of the decision.

Friday, May 30th:

  • Attorney General Lord Hermer states he regrets comments made the previous day suggesting calls for the UK to depart from international law were similar to arguments in 1930s Germany, describing the comments as "clumsy."
  • Nigel Farage announces that Reform UK will begin accepting donations in Bitcoin, becoming the first UK party to do so.
  • The Black Country Party is launched by six councillors on Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council who join the new party.
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