If these local elections are a temperature check, the government will hope the thermometer is broken. They’ve suffered a series of devastating losses, indicating the scale of resentment toward this government.
107 Councils Holding Elections
There has been a series of elections up and down the country. We’ve had local council elections, police and crime commissioner elections, a Blackpool South by-election, and ten mayoral elections.
Conservatives Suffering Huge Losses
Whilst few expected the Tories would have a good showing in the elections, the results are worse than the original fears. All major parties (except Reform) have made gains, whilst the Tories have suffered major losses.
Blackpool South Parliamentary Election Sign of Things to Come?
Tory MP Scott Benton resigned from the seat after being implicated in a lobbying scandal. This time, Labour’s Chris Webb won the seat with 10,825 votes. The Tories pipped Reform to second, taking 3,218 votes to Reform’s 3,101.
Tories Will Be Worried About Reform
The Blackpool South result will worry the Tories because the Reform vote nearly beat the Tory vote. This dilution of the Tory vote might cause much harm in the upcoming election.
Brexit Effects Falling, But Reform Sending a Message
During the white heat of the Brexit debates, the Brexit party (now known as Reform) achieved a nearly 30% vote share in Peterborough. In Blackpool, Reform won 16.9% of the votes, their best result since.
Reform, Reformed
Whilst the Brexit party stood on one particular issue, the results show that as Reform, they are capable of achieving a significant vote share – certainly enough to disrupt the major parties.
Reform’s Lee Anderson Puts the Boot in His Former Party
Anderson shows no mercy with his comments towards the Tories. He said: “We’re here to stay. We’re making in-roads,” he says. “Our trajectory is going up and up and up and the Tory party is going down and down and down.”
Anderson’s Assessment Echoes Many Observers
He said: “It was a good night for Labour, let’s be honest. It was a very, very poor night for the Conservative Party.”
Result Shows Scale of Turnaround
When the seat was previously up for election, Benton won it for the Conservatives with a 3,690 majority. Webb won it back with almost double the previous majority.
Red Wall Being Rebuilt?
The Blackpool South seat was considered a safer Labour seat, and the loss of it raised lots of eyebrows. The red wall fell in the last election, but perhaps this is a sign the wall is being rebuilt.
Previous Tory Strongholds Lost
The concern for the government will be the scale of the losses in previous strongly-held areas. Councils in the East, South East and South West of the country will hurt a lot because many of them were safe Tory areas. Many Tory councils have been lost overnight.
Tory Chairman Playing Down Significance
Richard Holden is trying to remain calm despite the damage. He said: “We have lost some good councillors across the country. But these are from a very high watermark of local elections in 2021.”
Starmer Happy With Labour Performance
The Labour leader said: “I’m very pleased with the results,” he says, adding “we’re picking up seats where we need them in other parts of the country as well.”
Labour Say A Message Was Sent to Sunak
Keir Starmer claims the results tell Rishi Sunak the public wants an election. He said, “A message has been sent directly to the prime minister… we’re fed up with your decline, your chaos, and division, and we want change”.
What Now for Sunak?
The rumblings about a leadership change within the Tory party haven’t gone away, but let’s be honest – this late in the day, it would be political suicide for them. It’s too little, too late.
Acceptance of Tory Fate
An outspoken critic of Rishi Sunak, Andrea Jenkyns, doesn’t think there’ll be a no-confidence vote now. She said, “I’m not sure that colleagues are going to be putting the letters in, so we’re working with what we’ve got.”
Results Pointing Towards a Landslide
Whilst we won’t know the full extent of the damage to the Tories for a few more days, these early indications are that the election is going to be a disaster for them—it could see the erosion of Tory support in all but the strongest-held areas.
Friends Becoming Foes
As the Reform party grows, it’s taking a large share of the Tory vote. Where once they were united mainly thanks to Brexit, they’re now fishing in the same vote pond, and it’s hurting the Tories more than Reform.
It’s Not ‘Will’ Labour Win – More Like ‘By How Much Will’ Labour Win?
The nation has made a strong statement. After 14 years of Tory rule, they want change. And if the results are to be interpreted, they desperately want it.
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The post Loud and Clear: Voters Give Government a Resounding Message in Local Elections first appeared on Edge Media.
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