British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak remains positive on victory after a dreadful first day of elections, but all focus now turns to the results of the West Midlands and London mayoral elections.
In the capital, all eyes are on Sadiq Khan, who is in an “extremely close” race with Tory candidate Susan Hall. The battle between Labour incumbent Sadiq Khan and his Tory rival Susan Hall is expected to be more intense than first thought.
It came after turnout fell in all of Sadiq Khan’s key battlegrounds and rose in some of Susan Hall’s Tory centres, sparking rumours in political circles that Ms Hall could win a shock victory. A Labour Party source said the fundamentals are still good for Khan, but no one can know the outcome of the vote at this stage.
The party is expected to lose up to 500 seats when all the votes are counted, with Labour advancing in both the “red wall” areas in the north, which the Tories won under Boris Johnson, and the traditional southern Conservative centres.
Keir Starmer hailed “seismic” results, including a by-election victory in South Blackpool, with the third biggest swing since the Second World War, as well as mayoral elections in the East Midlands, North East and North Yorkshire, which cover Sunaca’s own constituency.
In terms of local election results, of the 107 councils that held elections on Thursday, 102 announced their full results on Friday night, with the Conservatives losing more than 400 councillors as the party lost control of 10 councils.
Rishi Sunak is preparing for the results of key mayoral elections in London and the West Midlands after the Conservatives were defeated on the first day of local elections. By the time the results were announced on Friday, the Conservatives had lost 371 seats and lost control of 10 councils.
The British Prime Minister suggested there was still hope for his party despite having already suffered crushing defeats in the last test of voters before the general election. He wrote in the Telegraph newspaper:
“Thursday’s results showed that voters are frustrated and wondering why they should vote. The fact Labour is not winning in places that they admit themselves they need for a majority, shows that Keir Starmer’s lack of plan and vision is hurting them. We Conservatives have everything to fight for – and we will because we are fighting for our values and our country’s future.”
