LOCAL POLLS IN MAY ARE THERESA’S NEXT CHALLENGE

THERESA MAY is bracing herself for another grim election night, according to some senior Tories this week.

Ministers have begun sounding the alarm about a hammering for their party in local polls in May. Warnings that Labour will seize a string of boroughs in London and other Metropolitan areas are being raised. Barnet – which includes Margaret Thatcher’s former seat of Finchley – is seen as a lost cause. Tory control of Trafford Council in Greater Manchester is also tipped to fall.

Some MPs are even hinting that a serious drubbing across the country for the Tories on the night could force the Prime Minister out of office.

Opinion polls certainly suggest that Jeremy Corbyn is still attracting support in cities that were firmly anti-Brexit in the 2016 referendum. The hard-Left Labour leader also remains an icon for many younger voters, though it is doubtful they will turn out in similar numbers to last year’s general election for a town hall poll.

The campaign will also give Mr Corbyn a chance to do what he likes best: touring meeting halls to deliver his Left-wing rants and read out his favourite poetry to his adoring fan club. Yet the electoral doom-mongering in Tory circles probably signifies that party strategists are determined to manage expectations.

Around 150 councils across England and Wales have seats up for grabs, covering regions far beyond the liberal inner-city zones where Mr Corbyn’s brand of metropolitan socialism and identity politics is revered.

And recent opinion polls suggest the surge towards Labour seen last year could be petering out.

Two surveys put the Tories ahead with YouGov suggesting Mrs May’s party has a four-point lead over the opposition. Such polling figures have astounded Tories given the miserable period of sniping and plotting their party has been through in recent months.

Many Labour MPs suspect Mr Corbyn has already reached the limit of his appeal and is incapable of exploiting Tory disarray. A poor night at the polls for Labour would end the uneasy truce within his party.

It could well be the Labour leader and not the Prime Minister who is contemplating his political mortality in the morning after the vote.