UK Tories suffer losses in Sunak's first electoral test

May 05, 2023 / 7:32 PM

Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak comes out from 10 Downing Street to welcome Rwanda's President Paul Kagame, in cental London

Sharjah 24 – AFP: Britain's ruling Conservatives suffered high-profile losses as results poured in Friday from Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's first major electoral test since he took office last year.

In the depths of the worst cost-of-living crisis in decades, the local council elections held Thursday across swathes of England illuminated the main parties' standing ahead of a UK-wide general election expected next year.

Sunak admitted it was not looking good for his Tories.

"It's always disappointing to lose hard-working Conservative councillors," the prime minister said.

But he vowed to press ahead with the "people's priorities" -- including halving double-digit inflation, restoring economic growth, and stopping boatloads of migrants crossing the Channel.

The vote counting will only be complete later Friday, just as Britain gears up for Saturday's coronation of King Charles III.

But the main opposition Labour party crowed that the trend was already clear from the 230 English districts electing more than 8,000 council seats.

"These results have been a disaster for Rishi Sunak as voters punish him for the Tories' failure," said Shabana Mahmood, Labour's national campaign co-ordinator.

"These results show that we are on course for a majority Labour government," she added.

By 9:20 am (0720 GMT), 62 councils had declared their results. Sunak's Conservatives had lost 228 seats -- one-third of the total they were defending so far.

That trend would put the centre-right party on course for its worst defeat in local elections since the mid-1990s, before Labour took power nationally in a landslide under Tony Blair.

Transport minister Huw Merriman indicated that his party was paying the price for the chaotic few weeks last year when it ditched Boris Johnson and then Liz Truss as leader in quick succession.

Local constituents have been "talking about older news about former prime ministers -- but saying your current leader seems to have what it takes", he told the BBC, insisting that Sunak was on the right track.

Labour was up 119 seats, and took control of prized targets in Plymouth in southwest England, Medway in the southeast and Stoke-on-Trent in the Midlands -- where in 2016, 70 percent of voters backed Brexit.