How Labour's Brexit gamble is crumbling the Red Wall

To Simran Cheema, the local election results felt like “someone had taken a knife to my heart”. “It was really sad,” says the 28-year-old, nursing a cup of tea over the hubbub of a busy Walsall cafe. Cheema is the only Labour councillor remaining on Walsall council after, one by one, a dozen of her colleagues were booted from office on May 7. Reform, which previously had just one seat on the council, now has 40. It is no coincidence that this is Brexit country – a working class, ex-industrial town in the West Midlands where, for many decades, Labour votes used to be weighed rather than counted, as the old saying goes. No longer. “I was distraught,” says Cheema. “I spent the whole morning crying at the count.” This picture was replicated across Labour’s traditional heartlands in the North, where many traditional supporters found themselves at odds with the party over the European Union, and cast a vote for Reform in this month’s council elections. So imagine Cheema’s shock when the Labour leadership reacted to the local election drubbing by reopening that Pandora’s box marked “Brexit”. Read More: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/05/22/civil-war-inside-labour-toxic-brexit-gamble/ ► Sign up to the Telegraph's free new daily newsletter, From the Editor, bringing you the latest news, features and analysis from the Telegraph newsroom: www.telegraph.co.uk/customer/secure/newsletter/from-the-editor/?WT.mc_id=tmgoff_youtube_telegraphmain ► Get the latest headlines: www.telegraph.co.uk?WT.mc_id=tmgoff_youtube_telegraphmain ► Stay ahead with a Telegraph digital subscription: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/customer/subscription/store?WT.mc_id=tmgoff_youtube_telegraphmain https://www.telegraph.co.uk/ and https://www.youtube.com/telegraph are websites of The Telegraph, the UK's best-selling quality daily newspaper providing news and analysis on UK and world events, business, sport, lifestyle and culture.