was brutally skewers live on in a heated debate after the lost Runcorn to Reform UK. On Thursday (May 1), Brits up and down the country filled voting halls as they cast their votes for county mayors and council seats. The results of the nationwide by-elections began pouring in overnight where proved to be quite a force to be reckoned with.
The party won its first Parliamentary by-election taking Runcorn and Helsby from by just six votes after a recount. They also won their first mayoral contest, with former Tory MP Dame Andrea Jenkyns getting 42% of the vote in Greater Lancashire - a staggering win over the candidate who only raked in 26% of the votes.
After their disappointing loss, political reporter Christopher Hope interviewerd Keir Starmer in Luton and asked for a response to Nigel Farage's claims that he is a "coward" for not campaigning in Runcorn ahead of the by-election.
He asked the prime minister: "Nigel Farage says you're a coward for not campaigning in Runcorn. Are you a coward?" The Labour leader replied: "Look, the results are disappointing. I could stand here and say to you, 'Opposition parties always do well in by-elections like this' or 'It was very close in Runcorn' etcetera, etcetera.
"But what I want to say is my response is: We get it. We were elected last year to bring about change and that's what people desperately want. We started that work and NHS waiting lists are down, wages are up, interest prices are down. But the message from these results is: Go further, go faster.
"That chimes with what I want to do and that's what I've taken from this. I'm determined that we will go further and faster on the changes that people want to see." The broadcaster argued: "Six votes though, you could have won it" to which Starmer insisted that he was a close call between the two political parties.

He went on: "Well, it was very, very close but I'm not going to stand here and just say it was close. In the end, it's a binary outcome. You either win or you don't win.
"So, I'm not going to respond by saying it was close, I want a better response than that which is to say: I get it. We do know that change is needed and we're making that change.
"We need to go further and faster and I've been saying this for a couple of weeks, it reenforces my determination that we will deliver the change that people want across the country."
It didn't take long before fans flooded to X - formerly known as Twitter - to share their concerns online. One user penned: "His response is even more frightening - he wants to go 'further and faster' with the WRONG changes, which is the point he seems to be missing."
Another agreed: "Unfortunately, his change is the wrong change. It's not what we were thinkging [eye-rolling emoji]" as a third echoed: "So his response is to push his agenda even more."
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