Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and the Conservative Party have had a "terrible" night in the English local elections with voters punishing the party at the polls. Early figure show that the Tories have suffered a net loss of some 200 seats, but experts have claimed this number could rise to 1,000 when the full results come in.
These election results will decide more than 8,000 council seats in 230 out of 317 local authorities across England, who are responsible for the provision of public services, including everything from waste collection to schools, social care and planning.
However, more broadly, they are also a significant test of how voters are feeling ahead of the next general election, which is expected to be held next year, coming just eight months after Sunak was made Prime Minister. He was elected to help restore the Conservatives' credibility after months of scandals and economic chaos which saw leadership change hands three times, but these bruising results show the scale of that challenge.
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Early results show that the Tories have lost around 200 seats so far while also losing control of seven councils overnight. Leading pollster Sir John Curtice, has described the results as "unambiguously bad news" for Sunak and the Conservatives while MP Johnny Mercer described it has a "terrible" night for the party.
However, it has been a different story for Labour, with Sir Keir Starmer's party making serious gains ahead of the next general election. The party had hoped to win hundreds of seats in these elections and are on course to do so, with early results showing they had gained 96, while also gaining three councils.
Initial results showed that the party had taken Medway Council in Kent from the Conservatives, while also winning Plymouth and Stoke-on-Trent from no overall control. Meanwhile, the Tories lost Brentwood, North West Leicestershire, Hertsmere, Tamworth and East Lindsey to no overall control, while the Liberal Democrats took former PM Theresa May's constituency, Windsor and Maidenhead.
The Lib Dems and the Green Party have also made gains, currently up by around 36 and 13 seats respectively. Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey described the results as "a hammer blow" to the Tories, adding: "The message from voters is clear: they are sick to the back teeth of Rishi Sunak and his out-of-touch Conservative government".
Prior to the council elections, Conservative Party chairman Greg Hands had said the party could lose around 1,000 seats, although this was widely taken as being a deliberate exaggeration to allow him to claim they had performed better than expected. However, according to pollsters like Curtice, this is likely to become a reality.
At the last council elections in 2019, the Tories lost more than 1,300 seats, with Theresa May resigning from her position as Prime Minister shortly afterwards. Jeremy Corbyn's Labour had also suffered losses, with the Lib Dems, Greens and independent candidates performing the best.
Reacting to this year's results, Mr Hands admitted that it had been a "disappointing night" for the Conservatives, but told Sky News that the results were not a "uniformly good picture for Labour either," rubbishing claims that they were likely to repeat the success they enjoyed under Tony Blair.
"There are areas that Labour need to win to show that they're making progress," he said. "And I don't think they are making the comprehensive progress that they need to make. The year before Tony Blair's win, Labour gained 1661 seats. The Conservatives lost more than 1900 seats. I don't think we're seeing anything like that from yesterday's results.
However, Labour figures believe that this election showing proves that they are "on course" to win at the next general election, with MP and national campaign co-ordinator Shabana Mahmood also telling Sky News that the results were a "disaster" for the governing party.
"We have spent the whole campaign talking about Labour's plan to tackle the Tory cost of living crisis which is the number one issue for voters," she said. "Rishi Sunak can't talk about it because the Tories crashed the economy and they don't know how to fix it. Tonight has been a disaster for Rishi Sunak as voters punish him for the Tories' failure."
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