𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

He said: “But, it’s very, very early, and I’ve watched enough elections as a correspondent, as well as a politician, to know that we hold back until we have the big picture.

“We know what we were trying to do in this election, let’s track how the afternoon goes.”

He added it had been “clear for some time” that Wales is ready for change.

“Our job has been to try to encourage people to make the correct change,” he said.

“And we’ll be watching very, very carefully over the next few hours.”

Labour is on course to receive its worst set of local election results in the party’s history, having already lost control of nine councils on Friday morning.

The Prime Minister said he was hurting from “tough” results which saw Labour lose hundreds of councillors in England.

Reform piled on councillors across the country as Mr Farage claimed there had been a “truly historic shift in British politics”.

Labour also suffered from voters switching to the Green Party as Zack Polanski declared the era of two-party politics “is not just dying, it is dead and it is buried”.

Sir Keir, whose position was already under pressure over Labour’s plummeting poll ratings, said: “The results are tough, they are very tough, and there’s no sugar-coating it.

“We have lost brilliant Labour representatives across the country, these are people who put so much into their communities, so much into our party.

“And that hurts, and it should hurt, and I take responsibility.”

He acknowledged his Government had made “unnecessary mistakes” in office but added: “I’m not going to walk away and plunge the country into chaos.”

Energy Secretary and former Labour leader Ed Miliband had urged the Prime Minister to set out a timetable for his departure, the Times reported.

But Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy urged his party not to play “pass the parcel” with the leadership in response to the election results.

Defence Secretary John Healey said Sir Keir should be given more time, saying “he can still turn it round”.

But Hartlepool MP Jonathan Brash, who watched his wife lose her council seat overnight as Reform UK surged in the authority, said: “It’s clear to me that the Prime Minister should take this opportunity to set out a timetable for his own departure, and then allow for the widest possible leadership election that includes all the talents of our party.”

Reform’s successes included wins in Havering, its first London borough, and taking both Essex County Council – Tory leader Kemi Badenoch’s local authority -and Suffolk from the Conservatives.

Mr Farage said: “It’s a big, big day, not just for our party, but for a complete reshaping of British politics in every way.”

Sir Keir faces further heavy losses as vote counting continues throughout Friday in both English local elections and contests for the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Senedd.