Proportional representation: but what does it mean?

A seemingly irrepressible Reform UK party, on the face of it, surging to power; a Labour Party so out of favour with the public that even the red rosettes of Barnsley got the chop; a Conservative Party that is still holed beneath the waterline, though steadying, it seems, under the leadership of Kemi Badenoch – if winning Westminster Council is a good barometer.