The Conservative Party faced some tough early losses as counts got underway in England overnight. Boris Johnson is facing a backlash from local party leaders after losing three key London authorities.
Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party has strengthened its grip on the capital, taking the totemic Tory authority in Wandsworth, winning Westminster for the first time since its creation in 1964 and clinching victory in Barnet.
The loss of Wandsworth will be a significant blow because of its symbolic status in London. It turned blue in 1978, a year before Margaret Thatcher’s election as prime minister and was reputedly her favourite council, noted for its low taxes. London Mayor Sadiq Khan said that “history has been made” with the victory. Meanwhile, Labour’s success in Barnet, which has a large Jewish population, will be seen as a sign the party has turned the corner on the anti-Semitism rows which dogged Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.
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Across the rest of England, dozens of Tory councillors have lost their seats against a backdrop of the row about lockdown-busting parties in No 10 and the cost-of-living crisis. John Mallinson, the Conservative leader of Carlisle City Council which is being replaced by a new Labour-won Cumberland authority, put the losses down to an "integrity issue".
“Basically I just don’t feel people any longer have the confidence that the Prime Minister can be relied upon to tell the truth," he said. The comments were echoed in Portsmouth, where the Tories lost four seats. Simon Bosher, leader of the city's Conservative group, said Mr Johnson should “take a good, strong look in the mirror” because “those are people that are actually bearing the brunt on the doorstep of behaviour of what’s been going on in Westminster”.
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After full results were declared from 71 councils, the Tories had lost control of six authorities and suffered a net loss of 132 councillors, Labour had a net gain of four councils and 91 seats, the Lib Dems had gained a council and 40 councillors and the Greens had put on 22 councillors.
Cabinet minister Brandon Lewis insisted Mr Johnson remained the right person to lead the party, amid speculation that a bad set of election results – coupled with any further revelations about No 10 lockdown-busting parties – could see more Tory MPs submitting letters of no confidence. The Northern Ireland Secretary told Sky News: “I absolutely think we can win the next election, and I do think Boris Johnson is the right person to lead us into that.”
Policing minister Kit Malthouse told the BBC: “The further away you get from London, our sense is that the picture is better for us.”
Labour’s campaign has been hit by Tory calls for Durham Police to look into whether Sir Keir broke Covid rules while campaigning before the 2021 Hartlepool by-election – something he has dismissed as “mudslinging”. The Tories have also complained about a secret pact between Labour and the Lib Dems to maximise Conservative pain in marginal seats, something denied by both opposition parties.
While Labour enjoyed success in London, there was a mixed picture elsewhere. The party lost Hull to the Lib Dems, which it blamed on local issues but insisted it was winning back support in Brexit-supporting areas. The Liberal Democrats focused on making further inroads in Tory heartlands – the “Blue Wall” in southern England – following recent Westminster by-election successes in North Shropshire and Chesham and Amersham.
Labour also gained Southampton from the Conservatives, while the Tories lost both Worcester and West Oxfordshire, which contains David Cameron’s former Witney constituency, to no overall control. A referendum in Bristol saw voters choose to abolish the post of the elected mayor, currently held by Labour.
The key results so far
Sunderland: A poor performance by Labour might have seen the party lose overall control at Sunderland, a council it has run since 1973. But Labour kept its majority and lost just one seat, to the Liberal Democrats, who also gained a second seat from the Conservatives.
Cumberland: Labour has won a comfortable majority in the newly-created authority of Cumberland, which covers the former districts of Allerdale, Carlisle and Copeland in Cumbria – all areas currently represented by Conservative MPs.
Nuneaton & Bedworth: Labour saw its majority at Nuneaton & Bedworth disappear in 2018 and the party lost more councillors in 2021, with the Conservatives taking overall control. This year Labour has lost another seat to the Tories, in a part of the country that will be a key battleground at the next general election.
Hull: The Liberal Democrats have gained a wafer-thin majority in Hull, dislodging Labour who had run the council since 2011. The new line-up is 29 Lib Dems, 27 Labour and one independent – but no Conservatives.
Derby: Labour hoped to close the gap on the Conservatives in Derby, where the council has been in no overall control since 2018. But while the party has made three gains, it is still behind the Tories who now have 18 seats, with Labour on 16, the Lib Dems eight, Reform six and independents three.
Wandsworth: Wandsworth is a long-standing Labour target in London and this year the party has finally won power from the Conservatives, who had been in control of the council since 1978 and had prized themselves on charging residents one of the lowest average levels of council tax in the country.
Westminster: Westminster had been run by the Conservatives continuously since the council was created in 1964. Now it is in Labour hands – an outcome not predicted by many, but one that symbolises the slump in Tory support in the capital.
Barnet: It is third time lucky for Labour in Barnet, which has been the party’s top London target in the last three local elections. The party failed narrowly to win control in 2014, while 2018 saw the council swing further towards the Conservatives. This time Labour has won a hefty majority of 19.
Southampton: This was another top Labour target and the party has succeeded in winning control back from the Conservatives, though it has a slim majority on the new council of just four seats.
Derby: Labour hoped to close the gap on the Conservatives in Derby, where the council has been in no overall control since 2018. But while the party has made three gains, it is still behind the Tories who now have 18 seats, with Labour on 16, the Lib Dems eight, Reform six and independents three.
Worcester: Worcester has see-sawed since 2000 between having a Conservative majority and being in no overall control. The opposition parties were hoping to make gains this year and they have done just enough to leave Tories without a majority, with one gain for Labour and two for the Greens.
Still to come...
Results are due later today from most of the remaining councils in England along with every council in Scotland and Wales.
Some of the ones to watch in England include Solihull, where the Greens are hoping to make gains in the Conservative-controlled authority, and Walsall, where Labour aims to do likewise. Two key councils in West Sussex are due to declare: Worthing, a top Labour target, and Crawley, where both the Tories and Labour are hoping to gain control.
In Scotland, the SNP is looking to hold off any sign of a Labour resurgence in Glasgow and the outcome in Aberdeenshire will be a key measure of Conservative support in Scotland. In Wales, Labour is defending a slim majority in Cardiff and looking to take control of Blaenau Gwent from a group of independents, while Flintshire is a test of Tory popularity in an area in which they did well at the 2019 general election.
