English voters carried out a brutal mugging on the Tories in local elections

Sir, – It’s a sad reflection of the quality of many of today’s politicians and commentators that they seem unable to anticipate the possible consequences of their words before committing them to speeches or letters.

Arch-Unionist Emeritus Professor Jill Stephenson’s letter (May 3, “Poisoned chalice ‘gladly grasped’ by Humza Yousaf now even more toxic”) is a fine example of this, published as it was on the very day that England’s local council elections returned the worst results for the Conservative and Unionist Party for many decades.

Rishi Sunak is indeed yesterday’s man, the Tories are indeed a busted flush, the Westminster Cabinet is indeed a talent-free zone with no one in the party feeling up to the challenges that yesterday’s woman (Liz Truss) and the day before yesterday’s man (Boris Johnson) have bestowed upon this Disunited Kingdom and its political establishment.

But with a little over six months before the mandatory general election I can understand the reluctance of current Tory parliamentarians to put their heads above the leadership parapet when their time can be more usefully spent honing their CVs, putting tendrils out to their friends in big business or setting up deals for memoirs that will be as inspiring as their time at Westminster.

This was no ordinary defeat but a brutal mugging by an electorate totally disenchanted with this government’s performance.

Although the next Scottish elections are still some time away, surely Tory MSPs and councillors must already be researching their options for alternative employment?

Yet Scottish Labour should take little comfort from the English results.

At the time of writing, the Tories had lost 448 seats, with Labour gaining 185 (39%), the Liberal Democrats, 104 (22%), independents, 93 (20%), Greens, 74 (16%) and others, 11 (2%).

Amid the gross incompetence of this government, these “other” parties took almost 100 seats more than His Majesty’s Opposition – a result that must be as concerning to Labour as it is pleasingly good for political democracy, if it can be sustained.

With the desire for Scottish independence still running at approximately 50% of the electorate, and taking the English results into consideration, the Unionist Scottish Labour Party may struggle to make a significant and permanent breakthrough at the forthcoming general election.