UK Tories suffer losses in Sunak’s first electoral test
Britain's ruling Conservatives suffered high-profile losses as the results of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's first major electoral test since taking office last year were released on Friday.
Local council elections held across swaths of England on Thursday illuminated the main parties' standing ahead of a UK-wide general election expected next year, in the midst of the worst cost-of-living crisis in decades.
Sunak admitted that things were not looking good for his Conservatives.
"It's always disappointing to lose hard-working Conservative councilors," Prime Minister David Cameron told Sky News.
However, in a speech to Conservative campaign workers in London, he stated that he saw no "massive groundswell of movement towards the Labour Party or excitement for its agenda."
Vote counting will not be completed until later Friday, just as Britain prepares for King Charles III's coronation on Saturday.
However, the main opposition Labour Party claimed that the trend was already visible in the 230 English districts that elected over 8,000 council seats.
Labor leader Keir Starmer announced that the party had achieved "fantastic results across the country" in "places we need to win."
"Make no mistake, we are on course for a Labour majority in the next general election," he told cheering activists in Medway, southeast England, one of the councils seized from the Conservatives by his party.
At 12:20 p.m. (1120 GMT), 74 councils had announced their outcomes. Sunak's Conservatives had lost 262 seats, accounting for one-third of the total they were defending.
Huw Merriman, the transport minister, said his party was paying the price for the chaotic weeks last year when it dumped Boris Johnson and then Liz Truss as leaders in quick succession.
Local constituents have been "discussing older news about former prime ministers — but saying your current leader appears to have what it takes," he told the BBC, insisting that Sunak was on the right track.
Labour gained 148 seats. Along with Medway, it gained control of other prized targets such as Plymouth in southwest England and Stoke-on-Trent in the Midlands, where 70% of voters supported Brexit in 2016.
- Walls in red and blue -
Extrapolating to a national result in the next general election, Labour claimed a vote share lead over the Conservatives of more than 8%, enough for Starmer to become Prime Minister.
Labour is focusing on former Labour strongholds in northern England, the so-called "red wall," after Johnson switched to the Conservatives in the 2019 general election on a promise to "get Brexit done."
The smaller Liberal Democrats were up 65 seats and making inroads in wealthy Conservative districts on the outskirts of London represented nationally by members of Sunak's cabinet — the "blue wall."
The centrist opposition party took control of the council in Windsor and Maidenhead, west of London, which is represented by former Prime Minister Theresa May in Westminster.
"We are exceeding all expectations," said Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats.
"We have delivered a hammer blow to the Conservative party in the blue wall ahead of next year's general election."
The Conservatives were already defending a poor showing the last time the same council districts voted in 2019, according to Jonathan Carr-West, chief executive of the Local Government Information Unit.
He told Nigerianwatch that "voters may well return to the Conservative fold" in the next general election.
"But, yes, things are looking bleak for them so far." To perform poorly from a very poor starting point in 2019 is extremely disappointing."
Meanwhile, Sunak defended a law change that requires voters to show photo identification for the first time, a move that Labour and others have criticized as an attempt to suppress the vote.
On Thursday, the Electoral Commission promised to investigate numerous reports of voters being turned away.
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