UK’s ruling Conservatives brace for more losses in local elections

Britain’s ruling Conservatives yesterday braced for further losses in local elections, their worst results in recent memory and a key test before a general election to be held by January.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s party lost nearly 500 councillors and control of 12 councils as well as a parliamentary seat, after voting on Thursday across a swathe of England saw the Labour opposition make huge gains.

The beleaguered Tory leader was set to face more likely defeats when results of crunch mayoral races – in London, Liverpool and Manchester yesterday, but was hoping to retain the West Midlands.

In a rare success on Friday, a Tory mayor won a third term in Tees Valley, northeast England – albeit with a vastly reduced majority – providing Sunak with some respite.

Labour, out of power since 2010 and trounced by Boris Johnson’s Conservatives at the last general election in 2019, seized on its claim to the Blackpool South seat in parliament and other successes to demand a national vote.

“Let’s turn the page on decline,” Labour leader Keith Starmer told supporters yesterday in the East Midlands, where the party won the mayoral race.

Sunak must order a general election be held by January 28 next year at the latest, and has said he is planning on a poll in the second half of 2024.

Writing in yesterday’s Daily Telegraph, Sunak conceded the returns showed “voters are frustrated” but insisted “Labour is not winning in places they admit they need for a majority”.

“We Conservatives have everything to fight for,” Sunak concluded.