The British Conservatives recorded difficult first results in local elections in England on Friday, the first ballot since Rishi Sunak came to power, which bodes ill for the next general election.
In the aftermath of the vote held on Thursday, the results of which began to arrive overnight and must follow one another over the course of the day, the Tories are already suffering significant defeats in traditional bastions of the British right.
“He is always disappointing for these hard-working Conservative advisers,” Rishi Sunak reacted on Sky News, repeating his promises at the national level concerning the economy, health or the fight against illegal immigration. He said on Wednesday that he expected "difficult" elections.
The Labor Party, which hopes to succeed in bringing its leader Keir Starmer into Downing Street after the next general election due by the end of next year, for example won the local councils of Plymouth (South) and Stoke-on-Trent (North), Brexit "capital" which voted 69% to leave the EU in 2016.
The Tories are also losing the local council in Hertsmere, north-west London, where Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden is an MP.
On the eve of the coronation of King Charles III, the Tories also lost control of the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead to the Liberal Democrats.
After counting the ballots in 60 of the 230 local councils at stake this year, the Conservatives lost more than 200 elected officials.
Labor won 115. The Liberal Democrats recorded a net gain of 56 seats, the Green Party ecologists won 29.
Labour's national campaign co-ordinator, Shabana Mahmood, said "these results are a disaster for Rishi Sunak, whom voters are punishing for the Tories' failures."
"We are exceeding all expectations," rejoiced the leader of the Liberal Democrats Ed Davey, welcoming the blow to the conservative "blue wall" before the next general election.
05/05/2023 10:27:29 - London (AFP) - © 2023 AFP
