LONDON: Britain’s governing Conservative Party suffered heavy losses in local election results Friday, further cementing expectations that Labour Party will return to power after 14 years in a UK general election that will take place in the coming months. Labour won control of councils in England that the party hasn’t held for decades and was successful in a special by-election for Parliament that, if repeated in the general election, would lead to one of the Conservatives’ biggest-ever defeats.
Though the results overall, admittedly on a low turnout, make for grim reading for PM Rishi Sunak, he was able to breathe a sigh of relief when Conservative mayor of Tees Valley in the northeast of England was reelected, albeit with a depressed share of the vote.The victory of Ben Houchen, who ran a very personal campaign, may be enough to cushion Sunak from any revolt by Conservative lawmakers.
For Keir Starmer, Labour Party leader, it’s generally been a stellar set of results, with the only real negative coming in some areas with large Muslim populations, such as Blackburn and Oldham, where the party’s candidates appear to have suffered as a result of the leadership’s pro-Israel stance in the conflict in Gaza.
Though the results overall, admittedly on a low turnout, make for grim reading for PM Rishi Sunak, he was able to breathe a sigh of relief when Conservative mayor of Tees Valley in the northeast of England was reelected, albeit with a depressed share of the vote.The victory of Ben Houchen, who ran a very personal campaign, may be enough to cushion Sunak from any revolt by Conservative lawmakers.
For Keir Starmer, Labour Party leader, it’s generally been a stellar set of results, with the only real negative coming in some areas with large Muslim populations, such as Blackburn and Oldham, where the party’s candidates appear to have suffered as a result of the leadership’s pro-Israel stance in the conflict in Gaza.