As yesterday’s UK local election results count, the opposition Labor Party gained control of Wandsworth, West Oxfordshire, Southampton, Barnet and Westminster councils, taking dozens of seats from the Conservative Party. Millions of Britons went to the polls yesterday to cast their ballots in this year’s crucial local election, with polls already predicting a major punishing vote for Prime Minister Boris Johnson amid a rising cost of living and after the scandal over holding parties at his official residence amid confinement due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Based on these results, the public broadcaster BBC estimated that in the general election Labor would have 35 percent of the vote, the Conservatives 30, the Liberal Democrats 19 and others 16. Westminster had been controlled by the Tories since 1964, Wandsworth since 1978, while at Barnet, Labor won for the first time. While not all election results have been announced, the Conservatives are on course to lose more than 200 seats, including their main strongholds. In England, at least 91 of 146 municipalities have already declared their results final. The Green Party and the Liberal Democrats also made significant gains in these elections. The latter won 57 seats.
Johnson admitted at noon yesterday that voters in local council elections have sent a “message” to ministers and his party is facing a “mixed set of results”. However, while he acknowledged it was a “tough night” for Conservatives in some places, he believes his party is making “remarkable gains” in others. Several local Conservative leaders urged Johnson to consider his position, after losing iconic London councils to Labor and council seats across the south of England to the Liberal Democrats. Many conservatives blame “partygate” and the increase in the cost of living for the defeat in these elections, according to the British newspaper Guardian.
“History has been made,” the mayor of London, Labor Sadiq Khan, told the media this morning. Party leader Keir Starmer also celebrated the results. “Believe me, this is a huge turning point for us. We have turned Labor around and now we are seeing the results,” he said.
