Keir Starmer says that he is on course for No10 after voters gave Rishi Sunak’s Tories a battering in the crunch local elections.
The Conservatives lost 1,000 council seats across England in the PM’s first big test at the ballot box.
Mr Starmer said Labour “blew the doors off” on Thursday, as they took Tory councils in Swindon, Wilts; both Medway and Dover, Kent; Erewash, Derbys, and Bracknell Forest, Berks.
The party also took control in Plymouth, Blackpool, Stoke-on-Trent, East Staffordshire, Broxtowe in Notts, North East Derbyshire, York, South Ribble, Gravesham, and High Peak.
The Lib Dems snatched West Berkshire and Surrey Heath from the Tories.
It means Labour now has more councillors than any other party – the first time it has been the largest party in local government since 2002.
In Medway, which it has not held since 1998, Mr Starmer told jubilant activists: “Make no mistake, we are on course for a Labour majority at the next general election.”
He added that Prime Minister Mr Sunak and the Tories had nothing to say about the cost of living crisis “because they are the problem, not the solution”.
Addressing staff at Labour HQ later, Mr Starmer said: “Doesn’t it feel good to win? We are going to bottle this feeling and we’re going to turn it into a general election win next year.”
The Tory bloodbath included losing true-blue Windsor and Maidenhead, Berks, to the Lib Dems.
Sir Ed Davey’s party also took over the town halls in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warks, and Dacorum, Herts, in what he hailed as a “ground-breaking” show of support from the electorate.
The Greens won their first UK council majority, in Mid Suffolk, previously a minority Conservative administration. The party’s Adrian Ramsay said if the results were replicated at a general election, he and co-leader Carla Denyer would win parliamentary seats.
The Tories lost almost half of their seats in Hertsmere, Herts, where Deputy PM Oliver Dowden is the MP.
As angry MPs turned on Mr Sunak yesterday, some even suggested Boris Johnson should return as leader. David Campbell Bannerman, chairman of the Conservative Democracy Organisation, said they should “not rule out” the idea.
A Tory source said: “Sunak’s
claim that stability has been restored is shot to bits. These results are catastrophic for the party.”
Labour would have a nine-point lead if the results were replicated nationally, the BBC predicted. It is the party’s largest lead since losing power in 2010 but it is unclear whether it would be enough to secure an outright majority.
Alan Jarrett, the outgoing leader of Medway council, yesterday called on the PM to “get a grip on the economy”.
TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said the results are a “clear verdict on an out-of-touch government”.
The elections will not officially finish until Tuesday, after Redcar & Cleveland decided to stop counting after two recounts. A third count to take place from 10am.
