In a fierce election night showdown, Labour’s Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson exchanged heated words with Tory MP Richard Holden, accusing him of being “always so hostile” in a cringeworthy clash.

Amid the scuffle on a BBC panel centred on local elections, Phillipson urged Holden to “take it down a notch” as he launched into a tirade against Labour’s nine-month tenure, replete with personal jibes at Phillipson’s career and record on free speech in universities.

Overcome with anger, Bridget Phillipson lambasted Holden for failing to acknowledge the Conservative defeat last July, commenting, “You wouldn’t know from that, really, how badly the Conservatives were defeated last July.”

She berated his lack of remorse and insight over the Conservatives‘ fiasco left in their wake, indicating the public ejected them due to these failures, which she claimed her party is now remedying. With scorn, she dismissed Richard Holden’s outburst as a spouting of “a lot of nonsense”, condemning the Tories for the economic ruin they caused.

Retaliating, Shadow Paymaster General Holden claimed the economy thrived more under Tory rule, persistently cutting in with assertions of “the truth, Bridget”. Phillipson cut short the exchange sharply, telling him: “Richard, you’re always so hostile. Just, let’s kind of just take it down a notch.”

Yet, Holden stood firm, insisting on his narrative of a faster-growing economy under his party’s governance.

In a fiery exchange, Bridget Phillipson was cut off by Richard Holden as she questioned the state of the economy. “Do you think people really felt that the economy was working well…” she began, only to be interrupted by Mr Holden who retorted: “You asked a question and I give you an answer and then you attack me for answering. Come on, Bridget, you can’t have it both ways.”

Phillipson hit back, struggling to get her point across: “If I could just occasionally get a word in edgeways, Richard, you left a terrible mess behind and from everything that you said this evening, not an ounce of understanding.”

She also accused Holden of doing a chicken run, when a sitting MP stands in another seat because they think they will lose their own. The Tory MP and serving shadow minister denied the allegation, saying that he moved due to a boundary change.

Meanwhile, Mr Phillipson conceded that tonight’s local election results pose a “challenge” for Labour. When probed about whether poor outcomes might reflect public sentiment towards Labour’s initial months in power, she acknowledged the need for rapid reform, mirroring the public’s impatience.

“Whatever happens tonight, we want to go further and faster in demonstrating the change that we’re bringing to people’s lives,” she insisted.

Voters are set to determine the fate of over 1,600 council seats across 23 local authorities, with four regional mayors and two local mayors also on the ballot. Nigel Farage‘s Reform UK is anticipated to make significant inroads, potentially at the expense of both Labour and Conservative strongholds.

Early results have borne this out, with Reform making huge early gains in the North East, largely at Labour’s expense.