Local elections deliver Brexit bashing

LONDON: English voters frustrated with the deadlock over Brexit punished both Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservatives and the main opposition Labour Party in local elections, results showed.

Thursday’s voting for seats on local councils in England provided a stark display of how Britain’s 2016 vote to leave the European Union has split voters beyond traditional party lines.

Brexit has damaged the standing of the big parties, both of which are internally divided over how or even whether to lead Britain out of the EU, and have struggled to deliver a coherent message to voters on either side.

Frustration sometimes boiled over. One audience member shouted “Why don’t you resign?” before May addressed Conservatives in Wales. Some ballot papers were spoiled, with voters refusing to vote for any of the parties.

With all of the English results counted, the Conservative Party had suffered a net loss of 1,332 seats on local councils that were up for re-election, down by around a quarter.

Labour, which would typically aim to gain hundreds of seats in a mid-term vote, instead lost 81.

The main beneficiaries of the swing against the two main parties were the pro-EU Liberal Democrats, who campaigned on a straightforward demand for a new referendum, aiming to reverse Brexit.

They had won 700 councillors, more than doubling their seats. The Greens, who also back a second Brexit referendum, gained 194 seats.

The pro-Brexit UK Independence Party (UKIP) lost seats, but its former leader has set up a new Brexit Party, which was not contesting Thursday’s vote and had called for supporters to stay home or spoil their ballots.

Britain was meant to have left the EU on March 29, but after parliament repeatedly failed to back May’s agreement on the exit terms, she was forced to seek an extension.

Brexit is now due in October, and May is negotiating with Labour to find a compromise. Talks next week are not expected to reach a breakthrough. — Reuters