Rishi Sunak’s Tories Suffer Big Losses Early in UK Elections

Sarah-Jane Colclough of Labour wins the seat of Bentilee, Ubberley and Townsend during the Stoke On Trent Election Count And Declaration on May 05, 2023 in Stoke on Trent, England.

(Bloomberg) -- UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak appeared on track for a bruising first election result, as his Conservative Party lost scores of local council seats in areas it would need to hold next year to keep power.

The Tories lost more than 200 seats among the first 1,600 results announced Friday, a rate that could put the party on track for even the worst-case scenarios discussed before the voting began across England. The main opposition Labour Party gained more than half of those seats, while the Liberal Democrats chipped away at the Conservative rural heartland in the south.

Labour made gains in the northern “Red Wall” areas of Middlesbrough and Stoke-on-Trent, where former Prime Minister Boris Johnson had seen success in the 2019 general election. Labour leader Keir Starmer's party won southern target areas such as Plymouth, as well as taking the Medway Council, in Kent, for the first time in 20 years.

The Liberal Democrats made an eye-catching gain in Windsor & Maidenhead in the southeast, winning the council from the Tories. The local election result bode badly for the Conservatives in Parliament, since the area is currently represented by two Tory MPs, including former Prime Minister Theresa May.

“It's always disappointing to lose Conservative colleagues,” Sunak told the BBC, highlighting Tory gains in places like Peterborough, Bassetlaw and Sandwell. “The message I'm hearing from people is they want us to focus on their priorities.”

Read More: What UK Local Elections Will Say About Labour's Bid for Power

While the picture may yet change as more results come in, they're the first clear sign that Starmer's double-digit polling lead is translating into results on the ground. That will give the opposition confidence ahead of a general election that Sunak must call by January 2025.

“The initial results declared so far confirm the message of the polls that the Conservatives are in considerable electoral trouble, but that the spoils in these local elections are being secured by both Labour and the Liberal Democrats,” John Curtice, a professor of politics of Strathclyde University, told the BBC. “We cannot rule out the possibility that the party will lose the 1,000 seats that some anticipated they might lose.”

Sunak's Tories had sought to manage expectations ahead of the vote by embracing outside predictions of the 1000-seat loss. The results will be of extra concern because the Tories were already starting from a low base on the seats that were up for election on Thursday.

They were last voted on in 2019, when both the Tories — then led by May — and Labour under Jeremy Corbyn took a hammering as voters opted for smaller parties and independents in protest against the Brexit paralysis that was then gripping Parliament.

“We're very disappointed to have made losses last night,” said Conservative Party Chairman Greg Hands, speaking on Sky News. “Good councilors have lost their seats.”

(Recasts story.)

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