The local election results are now fully in and they are bad for Labour — worse, arguably, than the raw numbers suggest. The party lost control of more than 25 English councils and over 1,000 council seats, with Reform taking large chunks across the Midlands and the north and even breaking into traditional Tory territory in the south, including Essex. In Wales, Plaid Cymru became the largest party in the Senedd for the first time since devolution. A majority of Labour members now say Starmer cannot revive the party’s fortunes, and 45% want him to step down. Senior MPs are pushing for a departure timeline within the year. Andy Burnham is the preferred successor among members at 42%. The Economist’s read is that Farage’s triumph is not quite what it seems — but that framing offers limited comfort to a governing party that has just lost ground to Reform on its right and the Greens on its left simultaneously.

For the Tories, the night was grim but Badenoch is not facing immediate leadership pressure, even after losing Essex. The party is now being squeezed from both sides and has no obvious near-term path back.

On global macro, China’s exports jumped 14% in April, the strongest reading in months, suggesting US tariffs have so far done little to dent manufacturing output. The data lands just ahead of a Xi-Trump summit in Beijing. The FT’s framing is that Trump is seeking a grand bargain but no longer holds all the cards — worth keeping in mind for anyone positioned around a tariff de-escalation trade.

The US has imposed new sanctions on Chinese companies it says provided satellite imagery to Iran that enabled strikes on American forces in the Middle East. A minor escalation in isolation, but it adds another pressure point ahead of the Beijing summit and complicates the bilateral mood.

Turkey unveiled what it is calling a new ICBM, the Yıldırımhan, with a promotional video — generated by AI — showing it striking nuclear sites in the United States. The range claims appear to go well beyond what the missile can actually do. Still, the announcement is a signal about Ankara’s posture and its appetite for strategic theatre at a moment when Nato coherence is already under strain.

Trump has announced a three-day Russia-Ukraine ceasefire, though both sides were already accusing each other of violating the separate Victory Day ceasefire before this one was even confirmed. Treat the headline with caution.

UK GDP data for April is due Monday morning.

Sources

Al Jazeera, Guardian, FT, BBC News, Ars Technica, TechCrunch, Politico, The Economist — 2026-05-09