Heavy losses for Tories in local elections in England

Rishi Sunak

The ruling Conservatives have suffered heavy losses in local elections in England.

(Photo: Reuters)

London The ruling Conservatives in Britain suffered a heavy defeat in the local elections in England. After counting nearly all of the 230 local councils up for election, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Tories lost more than 1,000 seats, while Labor and the Liberal Democrats gained more than 500 and 400 seats, respectively.

The local elections are considered the last mood test before the parliamentary elections, which are expected to take place next year. The result is a serious setback for Sunak, who wants to get his party, badly battered by many scandals and political mistakes after 13 years in power, out of the polling low.

The prime minister has only been in office for six months and took over the government after the political chaos of his predecessor Liz Truss, who resigned after just 45 days. Labor leads the Conservatives by about 15 percentage points in the national polls. Plymouth local politician Johnny Mercer spoke of a “terrible” election night for the Conservatives.

Opposition leader Keir Starmer saw the result as confirmation that his Labor Party was well on the way to winning the next general election. “We are on our way to a Labor majority in the next elections,” said the party leader. The party has changed and won the trust of the voters. “Now we can change our country.”

Sunak expressed disappointment with his party’s performance but questioned whether the local elections had shown a pro-Labor voter bias. Before the election, the Tories feared they could lose 1,000 seats.

Now the number is even above that limit. “This confirms the message from the polls that the Conservatives are in serious electoral difficulties,” polling researcher John Curtice, a political scientist at the University of Strathclyde, told the BBC.

Labor is regaining old strongholds in the north

Only the numerical gains for the opposition parties are important. Labor and the Liberal Democrats have scored points in particularly hotly contested regions that could determine the outcome of the next general election. The Labor Party was able to score particularly well in its former strongholds such as Stoke-on-Trent and Middlesbrough in northern England, which it lost to the Tories in 2019.

The LibDems, on the other hand, snatched important mandates from the conservatives in the wealthy south. These include Windsor and Maidenhead, where former Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May has her constituency.

This time around 8,000 seats in the local parliaments were up for election. In Scotland and Wales, as in London, there were no votes. Northern Ireland votes on May 18th.

More: The local elections will show whether Labor can make the change

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