Fresh Trouble for Rishi Sunak as Tories Lose 1,000 Seats in Local Polls, Infighting Intensifies Woes

In fresh trouble ahead of the General Elections, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak faced devastating losses of more than 1,000 seats in the local elections, while the opposition Labour has said that the party is on track to win power in the next general election.

Sunak said that the council results were ‘disappointing’, but faced a scathing verdict from some of his MPs and the first rumblings of a threat to his leadership from allies of Boris Johnson, The Guardian reported.

Sunak’s Conservative Party has lost 48 councils and more than 1,000 councillors in the local polls, while the Labour won more than 500 seats. Keir Starmer, the Labour leader said his party’s vote share in the election has put it on course to take power in 2024 for the first time in 14 years.

Labour is now the largest party in local government – overtaking the Conservatives for the first time since 2002. The party is expecting this to be its best local election results since 1997, with an equivalent vote share lead of 8 to 9 percent over the Tories.

According to a report in BBC, the Labour got 35 percent, the Conservatives got 26 percent and Lib Dems 20 percent.

The poll loss has angered many Tories and some have blamed Sunak for the poor performance.

Sunak admitted the results were “disappointing”, but said he did not detect “a massive groundswell of movement towards the Labour Party or excitement for its agenda”.

Sunak is expected to face calls from within Tories to change direction even as he faces a challenge from the Lib Dems in the home counties and south-west, and Labour in the north, Midlands and some southern towns and cities.

The Conservative party is already seeing cracks as Rehman Chishti, a former leadership contender, has criticised Suella Braverman’s rhetoric on immigration.

Labour won control of councils in areas that will be crucial battlegrounds in the general election, including Medway, Swindon, Plymouth, Stoke-on-Trent, and East Staffordshire.

While Labour has made some gains in areas that it will need to win back at a general election, doubts remain whether the party has done enough to be on the cusp of a return to government.

The term for Parliament is five years. As the current Parliament first met on December 17, 2019, it will be automatically dissolved on December 17, 2024. Thus, the next UK general election is not due until January 2025.

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