Good morning. Look, I’m not going to call it Super Thursday: there frankly aren’t enough results in yet to warrant that kind of description for local elections in England, and it feels a bit glamorous for a bunch of returning officers in half-empty sports halls in any case.
Even so, as well as their importance for local governance, the results now coming in are being closely watched as the last big test with voters ahead of the general election. It will not shock you to learn that so far, they do not point to Rishi Sunak staying in Downing Street. At 5am, the Tories had lost more than half of the seats they were defending - and with the caveat that it’s still very early, that would be the worst government result in decades if it persists. There’s also the now-traditional matter of a Conservative by-election candidate getting a thumping after their predecessor was forced out by scandal.
