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Labour has hailed a “seismic” by-election win in Blackpool South, with Rishi Sunak facing a brutal series of local election losses overnight.
Sir Keir Starmer said Labour’s win, in the contest to replace ousted Tory MP Scott Benton, was “truly historic” and the “most important result” nationally.
Britain’s top polling guru Professor Sir John Curtice said the election “could be one of the worst, if not the worst, Conservative performances in local government elections of the last forty years.
Asked if the results were “catastrophic” for the Tories, Sir John said: “Not far from it”.
He added: “So far they are actually losing half of the seats they are trying to defend. If this continues, they could end up losing about 500 seats, which is exactly what they needed to avoid.”
With the results of key mayoral contests yet to be declared, one Tory MP told The Independent that a move against Mr Sunak is “likely” if either West Midlands mayor Andy Street or Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen lose their jobs.
Key results so far
Counting is under way in the 107 councils in England that held elections on Thursday, with the first results declared overnight and more to come later on Friday.
Early results for the police & crime commissioner elections across England and Wales have also been declared, while results are due on Friday afternoon for the mayors in the East Midlands, North East, Tees Valley and York & North Yorkshire.
There was also a byelection in Blackpool South - which saw Labour take the seat from the Conservatives with 58.9 per cent of the vote share.
Labour’s candidate Chris Webb received 10,825 votes, with the Tories trailing far behind with just 3,218 and Reform behind with just 3,218.
Here are some of the key results so far:
Hartlepool
The Labour Party won control of the council for the first time since 2019 thanks to a net gain of seven seats, while the Tories lost six.
While Labour did make progress in Harlow in Thursday’s council elections, it fell short of an overall majority by the narrowest of margins, ending up with 16 seats, just one behind the Tories on 17.
The party gained seven seats and a majority on Rushmoor council, an area that includes the army town of Aldershot, while the Tories lost eight seats and overall control.
Labour will be pleased with its performance in the Worcestershire council of Redditch - another important battleground at the general election - where the party picked up nine seats and overall control, while the Conservatives saw their tally drop by 11.
South Tyneside
It was a less cheery picture for Labour in South Tyneside, where the party suffered a net loss of 10 seats. Independent candidates gained nine seats and the Greens gained two, while the Tories lost their only councillor.
Labour still has a majority here, but only just: the new council will have 28 Labour councillors, 15 Independents and 11 Greens.
Sunderland
The Reform Party had a full or near-full slate of candidates in only a handful of councils holding elections this year and Sunderland was one of a few places where it fought every seat.
While the party did not win any of them, it did beat the Conservatives into third place in 16 of the 25 seats up for grabs while Labour made a net gain of six to increase its comfortable majority.
This Essex council was another one of Labour’s top targets in a key Conservative-Labour election battleground.
The party needed to gain six seats to take control of Thurrock, which has been run by the Tories for the past few years during a period of turbulence that saw the council declared effectively bankrupt in December 2022.
Labour ended up making a net gain of eight seats, enough for a clear majority, with Independents picking up two and the Tories suffering a net loss of 10.
‘No major problems’ with voter ID rules , Electoral Commission chief says
There were “no major problems” with new voter ID rules during yesterday’s elections, the chief of the Electoral Commission said.
Chief executive Vijay Rangarajan said it didn’t seem like there were “very many” people who made forgot identification on the day.
He told the BBC’s Today programme that campaigns to raise awareness of voter ID rules were largely successful, and that any issues people experienced were just “teething problems”.
Asked about veterans whose Veteran Cards weren’t accepted - since they’re not on the list of accepted IDs - Rangarajan says the government should look to expand the list of ID cards accepted for elections.
“We’ve not seen any major problems so far,” he said, adding the Electoral Commission will now do “quite a lot of analysis” to learn lessons for future elections.
‘We’re here to stay’ - Reform MP Lee Anderson says
Former Tory MP Lee Anderson has said Reform are “here to stay” following his defection to the party and it vote share in Blackpool.
“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.”
Asked if Reform standing may have harmed the Conservatives’ result, he says Labour is winning “50-60% of the vote” in a lot of areas, meaning Labour still would have won even if Reform didn’t stand.
Former Conservative chair blasts ‘gutter politics’ of Tory London mayoral candidate Susan Hall
Gaza partly to blame for Oldham losses, Labour says
Pat McFadden has admitted the crisis in Gaza has been an “issue” and “does get raised” when asked about Labour’s loss of control in Oldham.
The party’s national campaign coordinator told BBC Breakfast: “I do think that’s been a factor in some places, I don’t think there’s any point in denying that. It does get raised, and I understand why people have strong feelings about that.”
He said that with “so many innocent people being killed I’m not surprised people have strong feelings about that”.
Tories on course for worst local election results in 40 years, polling guru John Curtice says
Local election results: Ask John Rentoul anything as public opinion is tested ahead of general election
Labour holds Southampton
Labour has held Southampton City Council.
How many councils won and lost?
Good morning. So far, 35 out of 107 councils have declared results.
Labour has won 3 councils, with an increase of 52 councillors overall.
The Conservatives have lost 3 councils and 121 councillors across the country.
Worst Tory performance in 40 years, professor says
A leading politics professor has said this year’s local elections could be the worst Conservative performance in nearly 40 years.
Professor John Curtice, of the University of Strathclyde, told the BBC: “I think we’re probably looking at one of the worst if not the worst Conservative performances in local government elections in the last 40 years.
“There’s much more to come, but I think we have to conclude that the message from the polls is the Conservative party has not been making significant progress.”
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2024-05-03 07:31:14Z
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