May toasts Tory ‘success’ in English local elections

THERESA May has hailed Conservative “success” in English local elections after Tories denied Labour the breakthrough which many in Jeremy Corbyn’s party had predicted.

Conservatives held on to “crown jewel” authorities in London including Wandsworth, Westminster and Kensington, as well as the key Labour targets of Barnet and Hillingdon, while picking up votes from Ukip across England.

Ukip suffered a bloodbath, with dozens of councillors culled and its own general secretary comparing the party to the Black Death.

In Barnet, there was clear evidence of voters from the area’s large Jewish community turning their backs on Labour after the party became embroiled in allegations of anti-Semitism.

Mr Corbyn sought to put a brave face on overnight results which saw Labour pick up more than 50 seats but gain control of only one council, in Plymouth.

Meeting activists in the Devon city, Labour’s leader denied that his party has passed the moment of “peak Corbyn”.

“No, no, there is much more to come and it’s going to get even better,” Mr Corbyn told Sky News.

“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, we gained a lot of votes in places we never had those votes before.”

Labour sources described their results as “solid”, saying that the party had consolidated advances made at last year’s general election.

But the impact of its underwhelming performance was amplified by a failure to damp down expectations of victory in Tory strongholds which have not voted Labour in decades.

Mrs May was greeted by cheering supporters in Wandsworth, where she praised their efforts in beating off a Labour challenge which had seen the streets flooded with activists, including members of the Corbyn-backing Momentum campaign.

“Labour thought they could take control, this was one of their top targets and they threw everything at it, but they failed,” said the Prime Minister.

The message from the elections was that “Conservative councils deliver great local services at lower taxes”, said Mrs May, adding: “We won’t take anything for granted. We will continue to work hard for local people and we will build on this success for the future.”

Labour said that tight results in four Wandsworth wards meant it missed out on victory by 141 votes.

Other dramatic scenes in the capital saw Liberal Democrats gain 25 seats in Richmond to regain control of the Remain-backing borough for the first time in eight years. Tories lost 27 councillors and were reduced to a rump of just 11.