“Almost catastrophic,” is how election expert Professor John Curtice called the first results of the local elections. Almost everywhere the Conservatives lost council seats, both to Labor and the Liberal Democrats.
Even Aldershot, home to the British army in southern England, was lost, suggesting that Labor is trusted on defense matters.
A bright spot for the Conservatives is the retention of Harlow, a small town above London where Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer had visited several times during the campaign.
About the author
Patrick van IJzendoorn is correspondent for Great Britain and Ireland de Volkskrant.
A setback for Labor was the result in Oldham, where it lost the majority on the council. In this predominantly Muslim suburb of Manchester, George Galloway’s pro-Palestinian party made off with the loot.
In the south of Blackpool, a famous beach resort on the Irish Sea, Labor won a House of Commons seat from the Tories in a by-election. It was not so much the Labor candidate who won, but the Conservative who lost.
Many voters did not vote at all. This pattern was also visible in previous by-elections.
Result announced on Saturday
The final result will only be known on Saturday, as will the result of the battle for London mayor. After counting one-fifth of the votes, it can already be concluded that there is no recovery yet for the Conservatives.
After fourteen years, voters appear to have grown tired of the Tories. Increased immigration, incompetent government, the faltering economy and internal strife are seen as causes for the poor results. The hope was that Rwanda’s policy of deporting illegal immigrants would mean a turnaround.
There are calls within the party to replace Sunak with a leader with more charisma, including the name of Penny Mordaunt. However, yet another leadership change, shortly before going to the polls, could undermine credibility.
Some Tories regret ousting Boris Johnson two years ago. The former prime minister is good at winning elections. When he cast his vote on Thursday, he was shown the door because he did not have an ID with him. The display of identification at the polling station was introduced by himself.
Tags: British Conservatives suffer hard elections position Prime Minister Sunak uncertain
