London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Aug 05, 2025

Conservatives brace for losses as votes counted in local elections

Conservatives brace for losses as votes counted in local elections

Labour and Lib Dem sources say turnout appears to be low in possible sign of Tory voters staying away
The Conservatives are braced for a nerve-shredding 24 hours after voting closed in local elections across the UK, with Labour and the Liberal Democrats expecting to make gains.

Taking place against the backdrop of the cost of living crisis, the first nationwide polls since Partygate will be widely read as a test of whether Boris Johnson has become an electoral liability.

Every council seat in Wales, Scotland and London is being contested, as well as thousands more across England – more than 6,800 in all. At the same time, voters in Northern Ireland are electing all 90 members of the national assembly at Stormont, where the nationalist Sinn Féin could be returned as the largest party for the first time.

Many English councils will be counting through the night, while results in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are not expected until well into Friday.

Labour and Lib Dem sources suggested turnout appeared to be low, which they suggested could reflect Tory supporters staying at home rather than switching to another party.

The former Conservative minister Nick Boles, who once served as Johnson’s chief of staff when Johnson was mayor of London, declared he was voting Labour, while Dominic Cummings chose polling day to renew his calls for “regime change”.

As results emerge, Labour is preparing a detailed dive into vote shares in 35 to 50 key constituencies in the hope of showing that it is on track to make the gains necessary to win a general election.

The behind-the-scenes project, known as Operation Clear Day, will examine how the vote share is tracking against polling in key marginal wards and areas. Among those that will be watched intently are Hyndburn, Bury North and Bury South, Stevenage and Southampton.

In London, the best signs of potential gains to be made at a general election will be in Barnet, which Labour hopes to gain, and Chingford in Waltham Forest, where the party failed to oust Iain Duncan Smith in 2019.

Barry Rawlings, the leader of the Labour group on Barnet council, said he was hopeful of turning the town hall red for the first time. “I think we’re fairly confident we’ll take the council,” he said.

Labour also hopes to make progress in south Wales, where it lost overall control of councils in areas including Bridgend, Merthyr Tydfil and Blaenau Gwent when the seats were last contested five years ago.

Senior aides say the most crucial battle of all for Keir Starmer is in Scotland, where the Labour leader must show the party has got back to second place ahead of the Conservatives and is making gains against the SNP in key areas including Glasgow, in order to be on track to win a significant number of new constituency seats in two years’ time.

Conservatives are jittery about the risk London councils including Wandsworth and Westminster falliing to Labour, and losing out to the Lib Dems in longtime Tory areas in the south-east and south-west.

Speaking after the polls closed, the Lib Dem leader, Ed Davey, said: “I am optimistic that thanks to their hard work, the Liberal Democrats will gain ground in areas across the blue wall where voters are fed up of being taken for granted.

“After knocking on hundreds of doors this election, one thing is clear: people are sick of Boris Johnson’s Conservatives. They have had enough of seeing their taxes hiked, sewage dumped in their rivers and local health services run into the ground.”

Lib Dem sources said early indications from elections to Somerset’s new unitary authority were good for them. They believe a win there could bode well for the forthcoming Tiverton and Honiton byelection in neighbouring Devon, triggered by the resignation of the Conservative MP Neil Parish for watching pornography in the House of Commons.

Senior Conservative MPs are preparing to blame their party’s performance on the cost of living crisis, and take the opportunity to press home the need for Rishi Sunak to do more to help hard-pressed households.

The Tories are hoping for a better night outside the south of England, and are expected to argue that Johnson’s 2019 general election coalition is holding up and it is harder to see a path to a Labour victory.

“There’s a lot of England that looks like Johnsonite England,” said one Tory strategist, pointing to Sunderland, the Black Country and Walsall as places where the party believes it may put in a stronger performance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Elon Musk Receives $23.7 Billion Tesla Stock Award
Texas House Paralyzed After Democrats Walk Out Over Redistricting
Mexican Cartels Complicate Sheinbaum’s U.S. Security Talks
Mark Zuckerberg Declares War on the iPhone
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
OpenAI’s Bold Bet: Teaching AI to Think, Not Just Chat
Tesla Seeks Shareholder Approval for $29 Billion Compensation Package for Elon Musk
Nvidia is cutting prices on its RTX 50-series graphics cards after sales slowed and inventories piled up
Ghislaine Maxwell Transferred to Minimum-Security Prison Amid Ongoing DOJ Discussions
U.S. Tariffs Surge to Highest Levels in Nearly a Century Under Second Trump Term
Matt Taibbi Slams Media for Role in Russiagate Narrative
Pilots Call for Mental Health Support Without Stigma
All Five Trapped Miners Found Dead After El Teniente Mine Collapse
Ong Beng Seng Pleads Guilty in Corruption Case Linked to Former Singapore Transport Minister
BP’s Largest Oil and Gas Find in 25 Years Uncovered Offshore Brazil
Italy Fines Shein One Million Euros for Misleading Sustainability Claims
JPMorgan and Coinbase Unveil Partnership to Let Chase Cardholders Buy Crypto Directly
Declassified Annex Links Soros‑Affiliated Officials and Clinton Campaign to ‘Russiagate’ Narrative
UK's Online Safety Law: A Front for Censorship
Nationwide Protests Erupt in Brazil Demanding Presidential Resignation
Parents Abandon Child at Barcelona Airport Over Passport Issue
Mystery Surrounds Death of Brazilian Woman with iPhones Glued to Her Body
Bus Driver Discovers Toddler Hidden in Suitcase in New Zealand
Switzerland Celebrates 734 Years of Independence Amid Global Changes
U.S. Opens Official Investigation into Former Trump Prosecutor Jack Smith
Leaked audio of Canada's new PM Mark Carney admitting the truth about the Net Zero agenda: "We're gonna make a lot of money off of this."
China Enforces Comprehensive Ban on Cryptocurrency Activities
Absolutely 100% Realistic EVO Series Doll by EXDOLL (Chinese Company) used mainly for carnal purposes
World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab: "In this new world, we must accept... total transparency. You have to get used to it. You have to behave accordingly. But if you have nothing to hide, you shouldn't be afraid."
Meet Mufti Hamid Patel, head of Office for Standards in Education in Pakistan
George Soros tells the World Economic Forum: "President Trump is a con man and the ultimate narcissist, who wants the world to revolve around him."
Hamas are STARVING the hostages.
Decline in Tourism in Majorca Amidst Ongoing Anti-Tourism Protests
British Tourist Dies Following Hair Transplant in Turkey, Police Investigate
Poland Begins Excavation at Dziemiany After New Clue to World War II‑Era Nazi Treasure
WhatsApp Users Targeted in New Scam Involving Account Takeovers
Trump Threatens Canada with Tariffs Over Palestinian State Recognition
Trump Deploys Nuclear Submarines After Threats from Former Russian President Medvedev
Trump Sues Murdoch in “Heavyweight Bout”: Lawsuit Over Alleged Epstein Letter Sets Stage for Courtroom Showdown
Germany Enters Fiscal Crisis as Cabinet Approves €174 Billion in New Debt
Trump Administration Finalizes Broad Tariff Increases on Global Trade Partners
J.K. Rowling Limits Public Engagements Citing Safety Fears
JD.com Launches €2.2 Billion Bid for German Electronics Retailer Ceconomy
Azerbaijan Proceeds with Plan to Legalise Casinos on Artificial Islands
Former Judge Charged After Drunk Driving Crash Kills Comedian in Brazil
Jeff Bezos hasn’t paid a dollar in taxes for decades. He makes billions and pays $0 in taxes, LEGALLY
China Increases Use of Exit Bans Amid Rising U.S. Tensions
×