UK Conservatives suffer big losses in local elections as Labour appears headed for power
- Council losses a heavy blow for Conservatives as opposition Labour Party wins parliamentary seat
- Local elections represent the last major ballot box test before the UK holds a nationwide vote
Britain’s governing Conservative Party is suffering heavy losses as local election results pour in Friday, piling pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ahead of a UK general election in which the main opposition Labour Party appears increasingly likely to return to power after 14 years.
Labour won control of councils in England it hasn’t held for decades, and was successful in a special by-election for parliament.
Its only negative has been in some areas with large Muslim populations, such as Oldham in northwest England, where the party’s candidates appear to have suffered as a result of leader Keir Starmer’s strongly pro-Israel stance in the conflict in Gaza.
Perhaps of most importance in the context of the looming general election, Labour won Blackpool South, a long-time Labour seat in the northwest of England that went Conservative in the last general election in 2019, when then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson won a big victory.
In the contest, triggered by the resignation of a Conservative lawmaker following a lobbying scandal, Labour’s Chris Webb secured 10,825 votes, 7,607 more than his second-placed Conservative opponent.