Live Events'Tough'(You can now subscribe to our(You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channelLondon: Polls opened in local elections Thursday tipped to inflict losses on the UK's two main parties and confirm the rise of hard-right populists, portending the splintering of a century-long political duopoly.The polls in England are the first since Keir Starmer became Labour prime minister and Kemi Badenoch took over at the helm of the struggling opposition Conservatives last year.The anti-immigrant Reform UK party is expected to make gains, as are the centrist Liberal Democrats and left-wing Greens, confirming a trend that Britain is entering an era of multi-party politics. "British politics appears to be fragmenting," political scientist John Curtice wrote in the Telegraph this week, adding that the polls "will likely be the first in which as many as five parties are serious players".British politics have been dominated by the centre-left Labour party and centre-right Tories since the early 20th century. But last year's general election and recent opinion polls show a shift towards greater pluralism.Surveys show Britons are disillusioned with the two establishment parties amid anaemic economic growth, high levels of irregular immigration and flagging public services.Labour won a parliamentary majority in July with just 33.7 percent of the vote, the lowest share for any party winning a general election since World War II.The Conservatives won just 24 percent of the vote, securing only 121 seats in the 650-seat parliament as the party endured its worst-ever election defeat.Reform UK, led by Eurosceptic politician Nigel Farage, picked up five seats, an unprecedented haul for a British hard-right party, while the Liberal Democrats won 61 more MPs than at the previous election and the Greens quadrupled their representation to four.Those results mean "fragmentation is baked in" to Thursday's council, mayoral, and single parliamentary vote, according to political scientist Rob Ford. "For the big parties, it's like the couple who are having to wrestle with the duvet that's too small," said Ford. "Wherever they pull the duvet, they're going to get exposed somewhere."
