LONDON (AP) – Britain’s ruling Conservative Party suffered a crushing defeat in local election results Friday, further reinforcing hopes that Labor will return to power for the first time in 14 years in Britain’s general election in the coming months.
Labor gained control of England’s parliament, which it had not held for decades, and also won a special election for parliamentary seats.
If these results were to be repeated in the general election, it would be the biggest defeat in Conservative Party history.
More than 50 countries will go to the polls in 2024
The overall results are grim, despite the admittedly low turnout. Chancellor Rishi Sunak, the Conservative mayor of the Tees Valley in north-east England breathed a sigh of relief when he was re-elected despite a low turnout. Ben Houchen’s victory, which ran a deeply personal campaign, may be enough to cushion Sunak from a revolt by Tory MPs.
for Labor Party leaders keir starmer, in some areas with large Muslim populations, such as Blackburn and Oldham in north-west England, the party’s candidates appear to have suffered as a result of the leadership’s strong pro-Israel stance in the civil war, but overall It has produced excellent results. Gaza.
Perhaps most important in the context of the general election, which must be held by January but could be held as soon as next month, Labor regained a parliamentary seat in Blackpool South in northwest England. This seat went to the Conservative Party in the last general election in 2019, but at that time the Prime Minister boris johnson It has penetrated significantly into Brexit-supporting areas of the country.
In the election, which was sparked by the resignation of a Conservative MP following a lobbying scandal, Labor’s Chris Webb received 10,825 votes, beating the second-place Conservative candidate’s 3,218 votes. The 26% swing in support from the Conservatives to Labor was one of the largest since World War II and was enough to return the party to power for the first time since it was ousted in 2010. The numbers were too high.
Mr Starmer visited the coastal resort of Blackpool to congratulate Mr Webb and urge Mr Sunak to call a general election. Mr Sunak has the power to decide when this will happen, saying he expects it to be in the second half of 2024.
“This is a direct statement to Rishi Sunak saying we are tired of your decline, your confusion and your division and we want change,” Mr Starmer said.
Vote counting for the Blackpool South by-election begins on Thursday, May 2, 2024, at the Blackpool Sports Center in Blackpool, England. The by-election began after the resignation of Scott Benton. (Peter Byrne/Pennsylvania via AP)
thursday election It is significant in its own right in most parts of England, where voters will decide who will be responsible for many aspects of daily life, such as garbage collection, road maintenance and local crime prevention, for years to come. But now, with national elections looming, they are being viewed from the perspective of the nation.
John Curtis, professor of politics at Strathclyde University, said the Conservatives were losing about half of the seats they held.
“The Conservative Party’s performance in local government elections is probably one of the worst, if not the worst, in the last 40 years,” he told BBC radio.
FILE – A woman leaves a polling station after voting in London, Thursday, May 2, 2024. Britain’s ruling Conservative Party has suffered heavy losses as local election results roll in on Friday, increasing pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ahead of the UK general election. It appears increasingly likely that the main opposition Labor Party will return to power for the first time in 14 years. (AP Photo/Kin Chong, File)
By Friday evening, more than half of the 2,661 seats had been counted, with the Conservatives losing more than 300 seats and Labor gaining nearly 150 seats. Other parties, including the centrist Liberal Democrats and the Green Party, also gained seats. . Reform UK, which is trying to wrest the Conservative Party from the right, also had some successes, particularly in south Blackpool, where it came within 200 votes of coming second.
Labor won in areas that voted in favor of Brexit in 2016, such as Hartlepool in northeast England and Thurrock in southeast England, where Brexiteer Johnson lost badly. did. He also seized control of Rushmoor, a leafy, military-oriented parliament in the south of England, which he had never won before.
One bright spot for Mr Sunak was the result in the Tees Valley, a traditional Labor stronghold before Brexit.
Mr Sunak struck a defiant tone on Teesside as he celebrated Houcheng’s share, down nearly 20 percentage points from 2021 to 54%, but admitted elsewhere it had been a “disappointing” result.
“Labour has a message too, because they know and they know they have to win here to win the general election.” “They thought Tees Valley would walk back, but that wasn’t the case.”
Mr Sunak hopes Andy Street will remain mayor of the West Midlands when the results are announced on Saturday. Labor’s Sadiq Khan is expected to remain mayor of London, but there are concerns that low turnout could mean he will be defeated by Conservative challenger Susan Hall.
Sunak took over as prime minister in October 2022, following the short-lived tenure of his predecessor. Liz TrussHe resigned after 49 days after failing to fund a tax-cut budget that roiled financial markets and raised borrowing costs for homeowners.
Her chaotic and traumatic leadership follows the uproar over her predecessor, Mr Johnson, who was forced to resign after being found to have lied to parliament over coronavirus lockdown breaches in his Downing Street office. It made the Conservative Party’s difficulties even worse.
Nothing Mr Sunak has tried to do will change the course of politics, with Labor consistently leading by 20 points in opinion polls. Whether anyone else can deliver better policy than Mr Sunak is a question that may be preoccupying the minds of Conservative members of parliament as they look ahead to the weekend.
