Reform UK surges in early election results

Good morning, happy Friday and welcome to FirstFT. In today’s newsletter:

• Labour suffers losses while Reform surges in early poll results

• Truce under strain as US and Iran trade fire

• EU prepares for ‘potential’ talks with Vladimir Putin

• Sir David Attenborough turns 100

You can listen to today’s top news stories with the FT News Briefing podcast.

We begin in the UK, where votes are being counted in key council elections.

The latest: The Labour Party is facing a dire set of local and devolved election results after Britons cast their votes in polls that could further imperil Sir Keir Starmer’s premiership.

Early results suggest Nigel Farage’s Reform UK surging as Labour faces substantial losses. Britain’s political parties are contesting more than 5,000 seats across 136 councils in England. Follow our UK election blog for more results.

Why it matters: If Labour’s losses are as bad as expected, all eyes will be on whether the party holds its nerve in the coming days or if some MPs or ministers call for Starmer to consider his position.

What lies ahead: Election results will be announced throughout the day. Four councils will report their results tomorrow. Stephen Bush has put together a guide that breaks down the key battlegrounds that are set to confirm Britain’s shift to seven-party politics.

Here’s what else we’re keeping tabs on today and over the weekend:

• Bank of England conference: Central bank governor Andrew Bailey takes part in a fireside chat moderated by the FT’s chief economics commentator Martin Wolf.

• Results: Brookfield Asset Management, Commerzbank, IAG and Intesa Sanpaolo release first-quarter earnings.

• Venice Biennale: The showcase art event has been marked by controversy even before it opens to the public tomorrow. Jackie Wullschläger gives her verdict.

How well did you keep up with the news this week? Take our quiz.

Five more top stories

1. The US and Iran traded fire in the Strait of Hormuz in an escalation that put a ceasefire between the sides under fresh strain. President Donald Trump said its strike was in response to an attack on US warships exiting the waterway and warned of a more violent response. Oil rose and markets dipped in Asia this morning. Follow our live blog.

2. EU leaders are preparing for potential talks with Vladimir Putin, a senior official has said, as European capitals grow frustrated with negotiations led by Trump to end the war in Ukraine. European Council president António Costa said the bloc had the backing of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to negotiate with the Russian president.

3. Anthropic is weighing a roughly $50bn fundraise this summer to pay for an expansion in computing capacity, in a move that would catapult the Claude maker past rival OpenAI to a valuation of almost $1tn.

4. Donald Trump’s 10 per cent global tariffs have been ruled illegal by a US court, striking a fresh blow to the president’s flagship economic agenda. The court did not suspend the tariffs broadly, but only those for the two companies that brought the case.

5. Exclusive: Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr have contributed to a $1bn war chest assembled by a New York brokerage that has poured money into US companies in industries that are being championed by the White House.

• World Cup: The Trump administration’s chief official for the tournament, which starts next month, has defended the high cost of tickets for US matches.

The Big Read

Britain’s Serious Fraud Office is facing perhaps the biggest challenge since its formation in 1988. Critics say its prosecutions take too long and fail too often. The agency is now seeking to rebuild its credibility and justify its existence in a new era of white-collar crime.

We’re also reading . . . 

• EU consumer protection: US businesses have urged the Trump administration to intervene over the bloc’s new rules that could leave them open to an avalanche of class-action lawsuits.

• Pay with your face: A Seoul-based fintech believes payment by facial recognition will go mainstream after one in 10 South Koreans signed up.

• AI in finance: For those who grew up immersed in the technology, critical thinking is needed to spot both its opportunities and risks, writes Gillian Tett.

• Pupil exodus: UK private schools are benefiting from a jump in interest from Gulf-based families eyeing safer options for their children’s education.

Chart of the day

Big Tech’s record $725bn AI investment strategy is beginning to strain the resources of America’s largest companies. The full-year free cash flow of four “hyperscalers”— Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft and Meta — is set to hit the lowest level since 2014, according to analysts’ estimates.

Take a break from the news . . .

For more than seven decades, Sir David Attenborough has been both the face of natural history programming and a shrewd innovator whose career has mirrored the evolution of television. As he turns 100 today, we take a look at the legacy of “the most consequential broadcaster of our times”.