First ballot and first setback for Rishi Sunak. With the world’s eyes on the UK and the coronation of King Charles III, the Prime Minister and the Conservative Party are set to suffer a big defeat in a series of local by-elections in England. It was a question of renewing 8,000 seats in 230 municipal councils, for the first election organized since the accession to power of Rishi Sunak, on October 25th. According to the first published estimates over there BBC35% of the votes go to Labor against only 26% for the Conservatives, and 20% for the Liberal Democrats.
The results, still partial, should be confirmed in the coming days, but the Tories could have lost nearly 1,000 seats nationwide. Always according to BBC, the Tories would have lost around 40 town councils in the operation. “It’s always disappointing for these hard-working conservative advisers,” Rishi Sunak reacted on sky news.
This first defeat is part of a difficult context for the Prime Minister. Rishi Sunak is the subject of major challenges for his management of the economic crisis affecting the country. Since the beginning of the year, the United Kingdom has indeed suffered a series of massive strikes against rising prices. Inflation is close to 10%, and protesters are demanding a massive wage hike. Johnny Mercer, Minister of State for Veterans Affairs, said At Guardian that the party needed to improve its response to the rising cost of living or the setbacks would continue.
Labor in ambush
On the other side of the political spectrum, the discourse is quite different. Labor welcomes a historic victory, with nearly 500 seats snatched from the Conservatives. “We have fantastic results across the country. We are on track for a Labor majority in the next general election,” said Keir Starmer, Labor leader and designated competitor to Rishi Sunak for the post of Prime Minister.
Labor recorded war prizes in the north of England, as well as in certain counties in the south of the country, such as those of Plymouth, Swindon, Dover or Medway. If the results are confirmed, they should be in the majority in local governments, a level they had not managed to reach since the days of Tony Blair in 2002. The Labor staff blew to the Guardian that similar results in elections to the House of Commons would allow them to wrest power from the Conservatives.
New kingmakers?
The Liberal Democrats, meanwhile, took control of five local councils from the Conservatives, for a total of 409 additional elected officials. “The Liberal Democrats are the big winners in this year’s local elections,” said party leader Ed Davey. According to BBCthe former Minister of Energy and Climate Change in the Cameron government already imagines himself as a “kingmaker” in the next election.
Also notable, the Greens won a local council for the first time in their history, in Mid Suffolk, and achieved rising scores across the country. According to Carla Denyer, co-leader of the party, the Greens profited “from a deep dislike of the Tories and the uninspiring work of Starmer.”