London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Sunday, May 11, 2025

Local elections 2023: Tory losses a clear rejection of Rishi Sunak, says Labour

Local elections 2023: Tory losses a clear rejection of Rishi Sunak, says Labour

Heavy Conservative local election losses represent a "clear rejection" of Rishi Sunak in his first electoral test as prime minister, Labour has said.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer claimed his party was on course to win the next general election, expected next year.

The Tories lost 48 councils and more than 1,000 councillors across England in Thursday's polls, exceeding their worst predictions.

Many Tories were angry at the scale of the losses, with some blaming Mr Sunak.

Labour says it is now the largest party in local government, surpassing the Tories for the first time since 2002.

"The British public has sent a clear rejection of a prime minister who never had a mandate to begin with," a Labour spokesperson said.

The Liberal Democrats had what their leader Sir Ed Davey said was their "best result in decades", taking control of 12 councils, mostly in Tory heartlands. The party gained 405 new councillors, compared with Labour's 536 gains.

The Green Party gained 241 seats - their best-ever result in local elections - and gained its first majority on an English council, in Mid-Suffolk, although they were overtaken as the biggest party by Labour in Brighton and Hove.

Mr 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".

Sir Keir claimed the "fantastic" results showed his party was well placed to oust the Tories from government in a general election, expected next year.

"Make no mistake, we are on course for a Labour majority at the next general election," he told cheering activists in Medway in Kent, one of the councils his party has wrested from the Tories.


'Little short of calamitous'


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.

The BBC's projected national vote share put Labour on 35%, the Tories on 26% and the Lib Dems on 20%.

Labour's projected nine-point lead represents its largest over the Conservatives on this measure since the party lost power in 2010.

Sir John Curtice, the polling expert, said this year's results were "only a little short of calamitous for the Conservatives".

But the BBC's political editor, Chris Mason, said the results suggested it would be hard for either the Conservatives or Labour to be confident of winning a majority at the next general election.

Labour shadow cabinet member Peter Kyle denied the results, which saw the Lib Dems gain nearly as many new councillors as Labour, was an anti-government, rather than a pro-Labour, vote.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the results showed Labour had won back support in "key places" and would win an outright majority at the general election, without needing to do deals with other parties.

"In all of the areas that the Labour Party targeted, that we focused resources, that we really wanted to reconnect to voters, we did so."

He added that Sir Keir Starmer had "led from the front" and Labour had run a "disciplined" campaign, which showed it was "moving towards government."


Tory recriminations


In Swindon, where Labour took control of the borough council for the first time in 20 years, ousted Tory council leader David Renard blamed "the cost of living and the performance of the government in the last 12 months" for his party's woes locally.

Mr Renard said although the prime minister had "started to stabilise things", for voters in Swindon "what had gone on before that was something that they didn't like".

David Renard, Swindon's former council leader, who lost his own seat


The Conservative mayor of the Tees Valley, Ben Houchen, who is up for election next year, said the poor Tory performance was a partly a result of "the turmoil and upheaval of the last 12 months".

He said Labour had been "successful in making this a referendum on the government", adding "people don't feel like they can vote for us".

Nigel Churchill, a former Tory councillor who lost his seat on Plymouth Council - another Labour target - said "I think we can safely say" the Conservatives will lose the next general election.

"The general public do not trust them at the moment," he said.

But Education Minister Robert Halfon said this year's local elections were always "going to be difficult" for his party.

He said internal party divisions "didn't help", but claimed the losses were down to external factors, such as the cost-of-living crisis and problems in the NHS.

"Every government during the mid-term, especially a government that has been in power for 13 years, always suffers losses in local elections," he said.

Other Tory MPs told the BBC that apathy - Conservative voters staying at home - was also a big problem for the party.


Key results at a glance:


*  Labour has gained 536 councillors and 22 councils - including the key battlegrounds of Swindon, Plymouth, Medway and Stoke-on-Trent, where the party are hoping for success at the next general election

*  The Conservatives lost 1,061 councillors and 48 councils, but won control of Torbay and Wyre Forest

*  The Liberal Democrats have gained 12 councils and 405 councillors, including the former Conservative strongholds of Windsor and Maidenhead, and Stratford-on-Avon

*  Almost 250 Green councillors were elected, and the party won its first-ever outright majority on a council in Mid Suffolk

The seats up for grabs were mostly on district councils, responsible for services including bin collections, parks, public housing and planning applications.

The rest of the elections were for a mixture of metropolitan and unitary councils - single local authorities that deal with all local services - and for four mayors.

The elections were the first in England to see voter ID checks at polling stations. Some voters told the BBC they were turned away from polling stations, prompting critics to call for the ID rules to be dropped.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump's Upcoming Visit to Gulf Nations: Investment and Security at the Forefront
Rodrigo Duterte Awaits Trial at The Hague. Next week he might be elected mayor of his hometown
Trump fires director of U.S. Copyright Office, sources say
Retired British police officer arrested over ‘thought crime’ tweet
Cardinal Robert Prevost Elected as Pope Leo XIV, Marking a Historic Papacy
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka Arrested at ICE Facility Amid Congressional Visit
India-Pakistan conflict may be first test for Chinese military tech
Bill Gates Announces Plan to Wind Down Philanthropic Foundation and Disperse Wealth
Historic Papal Conclave Set to Commence in Rome
Huge Copper, Gold, and Silver Discovery in Argentina and Chile — But the Profits Go Abroad
Prince Harry is pleading for reconciliation — but the royals are just as sick of his victimhood as everyone else
The Road to Freedom: She Protested Putin, Escaped House Arrest, and Survived a 2,800-Kilometer Journey
OpenAI's Flip-Flop: No Longer Going Commercial, Back to Nonprofit, After Musk Lawsuit and Backlash
“Trump Supporter” Aims to Bring a MAGA-Style Shift to Romania
First From China: Zhao Xintong Wins the Snooker World Championship
Nvidia Faces Billion-Dollar Losses – Warns: China Is on Its Way to Becoming an AI Superpower
Trump Rules Out Third Term, Names JD Vance and Marco Rubio as Potential Successors
Mexico Says ‘No’ to U.S. Troops: President Sheinbaum Rejects Trump’s Offer to Fight Cartels
Nigel Farage’s Reform UK Storms the Map, Wrecking the Two-Party Monopoly
DOGE: Reimagining Government Operations with AI
Common Sense Returns to Britain's Legal System: UK Supreme Court Declares a Woman Is… a Woman
Beijing Says U.S. Is ‘Reaching Out’ for Tariff Talks Amid Soaring Trade Tensions
U.K. Court Rejects Prince Harry’s Final Appeal Over Police Security
Prince Harry’s Heartfelt Outburst Rocks the Royal Family
Trump Shares AI-Generated Image of Himself as… Pope, Prompting Outrage Reaction
Transgender Swimmer Secures Five Gold Medals at U.S. Masters Championship
Prince Harry: “I Want Reconciliation with My Family”
Germany's Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party has now been officially labeled “right-wing extremist” by the federal office for the so-called “protection of the constitution.”
Amazon Launches Satellite Internet Service Amidst Competition with SpaceX
Transformative Changes in Women's Wrestling: The Rise of WWE Superstars
The Rush to the White Gold: Global Investment Surge in Natural Hydrogen Exploration
This is a day in Spain without electricity and internet
Reform UK Surprises in British Elections, Challenging Traditional Two-Party System
180-Year-Old Christian University in South Carolina Announces Closure Due to Unmet $6 Million Fundraising Goal
Brazilian Woman Jailed for Fourteen Years for Writing “You Lost, Idiot” on Statue During Protest
Trump Administration Removes National Security Adviser Mike Waltz Amid Signal Chat Controversy
Dutch Politician Eva Vlaardingerbroek Receives Spyware Threat Alert from Apple
Paramount Board Considers Settlement in Trump’s $20 Billion Lawsuit Over "60 Minutes" Interview
U.S. Economy Shrink in Trump’s First Quarter as Tariff Policy Raises Questions
Deadline Looms for RTS Meter Replacement: Hundreds of Thousands at Risk of Heating Disruption
Sweden Grapples with Deadly Gun Violence: Suspect Arrested After Three Young Men Killed in Uppsala Hair Salon
Walz Reveals Why Harris Chose Him as Her Running Mate and Reflects on Democratic Losses
Spain Restores Power After Unprecedented Nationwide Blackout
Carney Secures Liberal Mandate in Canada’s Federal Election
Death Penalty Sought as Luigi Manion Pleads Not Guilty in CEO Murder Case
President Trump contacts Jeff Bezos after reports of Amazon considering listing tariff surcharges; company clarifies no such plan for main platform
Spain and Portugal Recover from Massive Blackout
Liverpool Clinches Record-Equalling 20th English League Title Under Arne Slot
Singapore Politicians Warn Against Foreign Interference in Election
Driver Ploughs into Vancouver Festival Crowd, Killing Nine
×