Labour ‘sleepwalking into disaster’ as local polls loom

LABOUR is preparing for another of its worst poll results in recent history, with hundreds of council seats expected to fall in the local elections in May, it has emerged. According to a document leaked yesterday, the party is braced to lose up to 315 seats, with internal polling pointing to “substantial losses” across the country.

Just months after Labour slumped to its worst general election defeat since 1935, its own modelling suggests it will lose control of as many as 10 councils.

The analysis adds that the so-called “red wall” of traditional Labour seats, many of which fell to the Conservatives in December, is continuing to crumble.

It also warns that the post-election bounce enjoyed by Boris Johnson in the polls is likely to compound the Labour’s woes further, with officials stating that they “fully expect to lose hard-working councillors”.

The disclosure will prove unwelcome news for the three leadership candidates vying to succeed Jeremy Corbyn, one of whom will have just over a month in the job before voters head to the polls on May 7.

Responding last night, Ian Murray, a candidate in Labour’s deputy leadership contest, claimed it highlighted the need for an “urgent wake-up call”.

“We are sleepwalking into disaster if we don’t change, and communities across England will lose dedicated local Labour champions,” he added.

“We have to change to become a credible alternative government of the future, not a protest movement of the past.

“We need to win again so that we can change people’s lives.”

A Labour Party spokesman said: “We recognise the scale of the challenge we face on May 7 and we will be fighting for every vote in the local elections.”