The Conservative Party suffered significant losses in a recent UK local election that is considered the last major public opinion test before the general election. The Tories lost nearly half the seats they were contesting leaving only a few council and mayoral results pending. Meanwhile, Labour won key councils and regional mayors with a decisive victory in the Blackpool South by-election. In contrast, the Prime Minister called the results “disappointing” but denied that Labour was on track for a general election win.
Despite the poor results, there has been no sign of an internal revolt against the Prime Minister’s leadership. Only two MPs have publicly called for a change of leader, and no new voices joined that band in response to these results. Conservative MP, Ben Houchen, managed to secure a win for a third term in Tees Valley, providing Rishi Sunak with a lifeline. However, Sir John Curtice pointed out that Houchen’s success was “heavily personal,” and the results are unreliable indicators of Conservative prospects in a general election.
In total, the Tories lost ten councils in England and ended up with over 400 fewer councillors. In contrast, Labour gained 169 new councillors and made advances in areas the party believed point toward general election victory. Labour emerged as the main beneficiary, winning all three of the newly created regional mayors in the East Midlands, the North East, and York and North Yorkshire. The newly created York and North Yorkshire mayoralty includes Mr Sunak’s Richmond constituency.
The local election results so far have yielded a host of results for parties to pore over with approximately 2,600 seats contested across 107 councils, 37 police and crime commissioners, and 11 local mayors. According to research by Sir John Curtice for the BBC, if the entire country had an election and behaved similarly to those places with elections, the outcome would be Labour 34% and the Conservatives 25%. Meanwhile, national polling puts Labour as much as 20 points ahead of the Conservatives in general election intentions.
Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats are now calling for Mr Sunak to call for a general election. Gaining almost 100 new councillors, the Liberal Democrats claimed they have proved they can benefit from Conservative difficulties. The Green Party came close to taking over the Bristol Council but continued to gain ground, winning 66 new seats. Reform averaged 12% of the vote in wards where they were standing and came third in the Blackpool by-election, 117 votes behind the Tories. However, the results from the remaining votes could still prove to be pivotal to the two leading parties
Read the full article from The BBC here: Read More