Key battlegrounds that will test political temperature
MANY Conservatives expect a bruising from voters across the country in Thursday’s elections, which include seats on scores of councils, among them all the London boroughs. Here, Lord Hayward, the Conservative peer and elections guru, highlights the main battlegrounds.
Barnet
Surprisingly the Conservatives improved their position in Barnet last time. The north London borough has a sizeable Jewish population, many of whom abandoned the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership. This week’s results should show whether Sir Keir Starmer’s efforts to move Labour away from anti-Semitism and make it less toxic are having an effect.
Sutton
Sutton in south London has been controlled by the Lib Dems since 1986.
But the Tories have been making gains in the past few sets of elections and the area now has two Tory MPs – Paul Scully and Elliot Colburn – as opposed to two Lib Dems previously.
If the Conservatives hope to make gains then this is the sort of area they will have their eyes on.
One of the key measures for the Tories is how far has the Red Wall tide moved back. The tide was very clear last year, and it was in boroughs like ...
Dudley, Sandwell and Wakefield The Tories won virtually every seat in Dudley last year and went from zero to eight in Sandwell. In 2021 they also gained a council seat in Wakefield that they hadn’t won in decades.
The Wakefield result could give us some sort of indication about how the by-election in Wakefield could play out.
Sheffield
The Tories won a council seat in Sheffield last year for the first time in more than 15 years. It’s also the only place that’s up this year where Labour, the Lib Dems, Conservatives and Greens all have a potential shot.
Hillingdon
Hillingdon in west London is at the top end of Labour’s expectations.
If they are having a really good day they could take the council and have the coup of taking a series of wards in Boris Johnson’s constituency: Uxbridge and South Ruislip.
Southampton
Southampton council is run by the Conservatives but they only need to lose two seats to lose control.