Tories celebrate surge as
THERESA May was celebrating a string of Tory successes last night after a surge in support among Brexit-backing voters helped her deny Labour a local election breakthrough.
Results in contests for seats on 150 councils across England showed Conservative candidates defied predictions of a hammering by Jeremy Corbyn’s party.
Labour failed to snatch control of top target councils including Wandsworth, Westminster, Swindon, Dudley and Walsall, while the Tories gained control of Peterborough, Redditch, Southend and Basildon thanks to a small swing in their favour outside London.
Looking relieved, Mrs May yesterday declared: “Labour failed in their efforts.”
Mr Corbyn’s party was also crushed in Barnet, north London, where the local campaign was dominated by allegations of widespread anti-Semitism in Labour ranks.
Conservative gains came largely in areas that voted Leave in the 2016 referendum, with the party attracting swathes of former Ukip voters.
Promise
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson last night led Brexit-supporting ministers in urging Mrs May to stick to her promise to deliver a full break from the EU.
“Jeremy Corbyn has been abandoned in many Leave areas – his pledge to stay in the customs union means he is not trusted to deliver Brexit,” Mr Johnson said.
He urged the Prime Minister to stay loyal to her “vision for leaving the single market and customs union, a key part of Tory electoral success”.
Leading poll expert John Curtice, Professor of Politics at Strathclyde University, said Leave voters were the driving force behind the Tory success.
He added: “I think this is a clear signal to the Government that if they are going to hang on to their electoral position, if they are going to hang on to the voters they’ve got at the moment, they are going to have to deliver a Brexit that appeals to the sympathies and instincts of Leave voters.”
Yesterday’s results were being seen as a humiliating rebuff to Mr Corbyn after his aides had set their sights on snatching control of a string of Tory-held councils, particularly in London.
The hard-Left Labour leader was facing searching questions about his future last night, with some critics suggesting that Corbyn mania had passed its peak.
Last night, with just one of the 150 councils left to declare a result, Labour had only gained an extra 61 out of around 4,300 seats being contested while the Lib Dems gained 77 in signs of a minor renaissance.
The Tories lost 93 seats, an astonishingly low number for a party that has been in government for eight years, while Ukip were down by 57. Polling expert Michael Thrasher said: “What Labour has failed to do is establish itself as a party that can win the next general election.”
In a humbling symbol of his party’s disappointing performance, Mr Corbyn had hoped to be celebrating victory in Wandsworth, once revered by Margaret Thatcher for its spending restraint, but yesterday had to travel to Plymouth instead to mark a rare election night success.
Instead, the Prime Minister swept into Wandsworth to praise local Tories for seeing off the Labour challenge. “Labour thought they could take control, this was one of their top targets and they threw everything at it but they failed,” she told jubilant supporters.
The Prime Minister went on to visit Dudley, another success story in the West Midlands.
Mr Corbyn’s party lost control of Nuneaton and Bedworth council – a bellwether area that often indicates the colour of the government at general elections – and Derby.
It also failed to win the London borough of Kensington & Chelsea, where Labour chiefs had hoped to capitalise on anger at the Grenfell Tower blaze tragedy.
Labour fared better at Trafford in Greater Manchester which switched from Tory domination to no overall control. A downbeat Mr Corbyn described his party’s performance as “solid”.
“In these elections we have won seats across England in places we have never held before,” he said. “The party is now well placed to win the next general election.”
He added: “Obviously, I am disappointed at any places where we lost a bit of ground but if you look at the overall picture, Labour gained a lot of seats across the whole country.”
Labour MP Jess Phillips, a critic of Mr Corbyn, observed: “I see everyone is claiming failure as victory.”