The Conservatives are losing power in a number of municipalities after local elections in England on Thursday. This undermines Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s ambitions for a new lease on life for the party.

Labour, on the other hand, believe they are now on a steady path to electoral victory when the general election is held in a year’s time, after many years out of power.

After 222 out of 230 municipalities finished counting on Friday evening, the result was that the Conservatives lost 1,038 seats, while Labor won 517. The Liberal Democrats also did well with a net gain of 408 seats, while that. The Greens won 241 new seats.

In total, more than 8,000 local council seats are up for grabs in what is Rishi Sunak’s first encounter with the electorate as prime minister.

– Catastrophic for Sunak

from the BBC The results page shows at 9:30 p.m. Norwegian time that Sunak’s party is losing a majority in 46 municipalities. Labor takes a majority in towns such as Swindon, Blackpool, Stoke and Plymouth, while the Liberal Democrats secure a majority in Stratford-upon-Avon, Windsor and Maidenhead, among others.

– The results are a disaster for Rishi Sunak. The voters are punishing him for the Conservatives’ failure. These results show that we are heading towards a majority government for Labour, says Labour’s campaign manager, Shabana Mahmood.

The Tories are losing to Labor in cities in northern and southern England, while the Liberal Democrats have gained in moderate parts of southern England.

great challenges

Sunak came to power in October after a series of scandals and as the country is plagued by high inflation and weak growth. As prime minister, he had to deal with growing poverty, a crisis in the health care system and incessant strikes.

Government parties often struggle in by-elections, but the Conservatives’ decline in local elections this year is far greater than normal.

Predictions for the next general election that the BBC has prepared based on local election results indicate that Labor could get 36-38%, while the Conservatives will have to settle for 28-30%.

(© NTB)