Local elections to reveal British mood
Frustration over Brexit burdens Conservatives
LONDON — British voters cast ballots Thursday in local elections considered a test of the public mood less than a year before the U.K. leaves the European Union.
Voting was taking place to fill more than 4,000 seats on 150 local councils in towns and cities across England, including all of London’s 32 boroughs. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland were not holding elections Thursday.
The Conservatives, who have been in power nationally since 2010, braced for losses amid anger over unsteady Brexit talks, an immigration scandal and years of public spending cuts that have seen local officials close libraries and slash services.
The local elections come less than a year after a snap election delivered a divided Parliament and a minority government for Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May.
The main opposition Labour Party was hoping to pick up hundreds of seats and wrest control of several councils from the Tories. But the party has been tarnished by allegations that its leaders have failed to clamp down on anti-semitism in Labour ranks.
Tony Travers, professor of government at the London School of Economics, said voters often punish governing parties in midterm elections, so “other things being equal, you would expect the Conservatives to do badly and Labour to do well.”
But with Labour divided between centrists and supporters of left-wing leader Jeremy Corbyn, “it doesn’t look like Labour’s going to make a great leap forward, which is what an opposition party really needs to do.”
Results were expected Friday.
The elections will determine who controls the councils, which collect garbage, fix potholes and run schools, and many voters will choose firmly on local issues.