Dramatic loss in local elections bad news for Prime Minister Sunak

NOS News•today, 09:17

Local elections in England have ended in drama for incumbent Prime Minister Sunak. With 106 of the 107 results known, his Conservative party lost almost half of its municipal seats and is now the third party at local level, after Labor and the Liberal Democrats.

The Tories also narrowly lost the mayoral election in Birmingham and this could not be prevented Labor mayor Sadiq Khan was given a historic third term in London. By retaining the posts in Liverpool and Manchester, Labor now provides mayors in the four largest English cities.

“We are fed up with your disagreement, your chaos and your failures,” was Opposition Leader Starmer’s message to the Prime Minister. “If, after 14 years of ruling, you leave a country worse than you started, then you don’t deserve to stay in power.”

Starmer called on Sunak to quickly call national elections, as in the United Kingdom the incumbent prime minister can determine that moment. “Unfortunately, our country is a victim of a zombie government, which keeps the country in uncertainty because the prime minister is afraid that he will lose the elections.”

Of the more than 2,600 seats up for election, Labor won 1,140, ​​according to the BBC, 186 more than last time. The Conservative Party, on the other hand, lost 473 and ended up with 512. This means that the party has to tolerate the Lib-Dems with 521 seats above them. Leader Davey of that party calls the result disastrous for the ruling party.

The loss of the mayor in the West Midlands, which includes the country’s second city Birmingham, was also painful. The Conservative mayor lost the race there by 1,508 votes to his Labor challenger.

In London, Khan did considerably better than initially expected. The Tories hoped to capitalize on dissatisfaction with his policies, such as unpopular car emissions rules and criticism of his handling of pro-Palestinian demonstrations in recent months. Yet the Labor politician crushed his competition with 44 percent of the vote.

Prime Minister Sunak visited one of the few success stories this election: the Tees Valley district, where a fellow party member won. He said his determination has only grown. “I am confident that voters will choose us in the national elections.”

A small bright spot for him was that Labor lost votes in areas where many Muslims live, because those supporters disagree with the party’s pro-Israel position.

Sunak can also take comfort in the fact that his party appears to want to close ranks in the run-up to the next elections and in any case does not want to change his position internally. undo. Although, the BBC analyzes, “changing leaders again so close to the elections would be too crazy for words.”