Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has denied that Reform UK is the new "people's party" - despite their enormous seat gain in the latest local elections.
Nigel Farage's party has gained more than 300 seats as they welcomed their first-ever Mayor, Dame Andrea Jenkyns, and first-ever female MP, Sarah Pochin.
Speaking to GB News, Starmer admitted that while the results were "disappointing", he is still "determined to go further and faster" to deliver change for Britain.
Starmer told GB News Political Editor Christopher Hope: "The results in the local elections are disappointing, and I could stand here and say that opposition parties always do well in by-elections like this, it was very close in Runcorn etc - but what I want to say is my response is we get it.
Keir Starmer has denied that Reform UK are the 'people's party' after gaining over 300 seats in the local elections
PA / GB News
"We were elected in last year to bring about change, that's what people desperately want. We started that work - the NHS waiting lists are down, wages are up more than prices, interest rates are down. But the message from these results, I think, is go further, go faster. That chimes with what I want to do, and that's what I take out of this."
Pressed by Christopher on whether Reform UK is the new "people's party" of Britain, Starmer claimed that his Government had already begun making progress on key issues affecting Britons.
Starmer explained: "NHS waiting lists are down, we've done three million extra appointments in the ten months that we've been in Government, that's hugely important to people.
"Interest rates are going down, so anybody watching this with a mortgage will be pleased to know, interest rates have come down three times now and wages are going up higher than prices. That's really important in the cost of living crisis."
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Sarah Pochin became the first female Reform UK MP after winning Runcorn & Helsby by six votesPAHitting out at Reform UK policy, Starmer claimed that the party want to "charge Britons" for using the NHS with their reforms of the country's health service.
The Prime Minister claimed: "We're getting NHS waiting lists down, what do Reform want to do? They want to charge people for using the NHS.
"That's a pretty fundamental divide. Under a Labour Government we will never charge people for using the NHS. It is a pretty fundamental issue to me and my Government."
Reiterating his mission to go "further and faster" for the people of Britain, Starmer emphasised that with the close local election result in Runcorn and Helsby, he acknowledged "change is needed" from his Government.
Starmer told GB News that he wants to go 'further and faster' with Labour's change
GB News
Starmer concluded: "I'm determined that we will go further and faster on the change that people want to see. It was very, very close in Runcorn, 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. The question is how, and so I'm not going to respond by simply saying it was close, I want a better response than that, which is to say I get it."
He added: "I do know that change is needed, we are making that change.
"We need to go further and faster. I've been saying this for a number of weeks, and this reinforces my determination that will deliver the change that people want across the country."
