While vote counting for Friday’s local elections in England and Wales is still underway, significant losses for the ruling Conservative Party are already starting to emerge.
Thursday’s votes to elect councilors, mayors and police commissioners in local elections are seen as the last test of public opinion before a general election expected later this year, signaling a difficult road ahead for the party.
Here are four key points.
The Conservatives could be in serious trouble.
Ahead of the local elections, the question is not whether the Conservatives will be affected; How serious is the blow? possible. The party has trailed the main opposition Labor Party in opinion polls for some time. a series of scandalsthis The collapse of Boris Johnson’s government and the embarrassment 45 days as prime minister The leadership of Liz Truss led many Britons to look for leadership elsewhere.
By midday on Friday, preliminary results suggested the party’s performance may be worse than its leaders feared. The bottom line is that some analysts believe the Conservatives could lose as many as 500 parliamentary seats, a sign of serious trouble for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s embattled Conservative Party.
Around a third of England’s parliamentary seats are up for grabs, as well as 11 mayoral seats in major UK metropolitan areas. While these elections are about local leadership, Thursday’s results serve as an important barometer of overall public opinion and the ultimate test of whether the Conservatives can retain power in a general election expected this fall.
Labor won control of a number of key councils, including Hartlepool, Thurrock, Rushmore and Redditch, all seen as battleground contests that could gauge wider public sentiment.
However, the Conservatives achieved some notable victories, including Tees Valley mayoral raceIncumbent Ben Houchen received a majority of the vote, although this was a much smaller share than at the previous election.
Labour’s “red wall” is returning.
The election was a clear sign that the opposition Labor Party had succeeded in winning back long-term supporters in working-class areas of northern England – often referred to as the “Red Wall” because of their deep-seated support for Labour, whose color is red – They have defected. On Brexit and immigration.
After Labor won control of Hartlepool Council, a party representative said: “The progress made here shows that the party is well on its way to winning the general election and re-entering the service of working people with determination.”
In Blackpool South, poor seaside areaLabor easily won Thursday’s parliamentary by-election after Conservative MPs were elected Step down. The seat had long been held by Labor but was won by the Conservatives in 2019.
Labor leader Keir Starmer said the victory was a direct message from the public to Mr Sunak “that we are tired of your decline, your chaos, your division and we want change” ”
But Labor also faces some resistance, possibly due to unwavering support for israel The war in Gaza and delays in calling for a ceasefire could undermine the party’s progress in some parts of the north, Senior Labor figure Pat McFadden, admitted to Sky News. He added that it was notable that the party had lost control of Oldham Council, where the large Muslim population appeared to be switching their votes to independent candidates.
The election showed how Britain’s reformists might wrest votes from the Conservatives.
Reform Britain, the right-wing party founded by Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage, has relatively few candidates in the election. But their performance in some key contests suggests they could have a major impact on the general election.
In the Blackpool South election, Labor candidate Chris Webb won in a landslide, with the Reform Party receiving almost as many votes as the Conservatives, with only 117 votes separating the two (3,218 to 3,101).
The results appeared to confirm polls showing the party in third place behind Labor and the Conservatives, underscoring the threat it could pose to the Conservatives in the upcoming general election.
The new voting rules are going well. (But not Mr. Johnson.)
Thursday’s vote was the first test of new voting rules under the 2022 electoral law, and election supervisors said the process went smoothly, with some notable exceptions.
The vote marked the first time every voter in England was required to show a photo ID, with former Prime Minister Johnson reportedly being turned away after arriving at a polling station without one. According to Sky News. He later returned with the necessary identification and voted.
Some veterans complain they are unable to use Veterans ID card Vote as they are not an approved form of photo identification.Veterans Affairs Secretary Johnny Mercer said In a post on social media platform He was sorry this had become a problem. He vowed the cards would be accepted at the next election.
But the British Electoral Commission, the independent body that oversees elections, said in a statement “The majority of voters who want to vote will be able to do so” and it will “identify any potential barriers to voting”.
