| SCOREBOARD | Councils | +/- | Seats | +/- | PNS% |
| Labour | 60 | -6 | 2023 | -82 | 28% (-1%) |
| Conservative | 93 | -44 | 3562 | -1334 | 28% (-7%) |
| Liberal Democrats | 18 | +10 | 1350 | +703 | 19% (+8%) |
| Green | - | - | 265 | +194 | |
| UKIP | - | - | 31 | -145 | |
| Others including | 4 | +3 | 1179 | +662 | |
| Independent | 2 | +2 | 1045 | +606 | |
| Residents' Association | 2 | +1 | 119 | +49 | |
| No Overall Control | 73 | +37 | - | - |
PRIME MINISTER Theresa May vowed to "get on and deliver Brexit" as Conservatives across England attempted to come to terms with heavy losses in the local elections.
With all 248 authorities now accounted for, the Tories are confirmed to have lost a massive 1,334 seats and ceded control in a net total of no fewer than 45 councils.
It is the Conservatives' worst result in local elections since 1995 when John Major's divided governing party was hammered by Tony Blair's New Labour.
Unsurprisingly, the appalling results have caused some dismay among the Conservatives rank and file.
Mrs May was heckled as she delivered a speech to the Welsh Conservative conference in Llangollen, with a former councillor shouting: “Why don’t you resign? We don’t want you.”
Nevertheless, the Prime Minister has suffered far darker days in her premiership than this one.
For, while Labour did not sustain anywhere near the same level of losses as the Tories, it would be fair to say it did not have a particularly good night either.
In all, Jeremy Corbyn's party lost 63 seats across the country - and also lost its majority on 11 councils while gaining only five.
Instead, the main beneficiaries were the resurgent Liberal Democrats who enjoyed easily their best result in local elections since 2004.
Otherwise, it was a far better night than usual to stand as an independent, something which was amply demonstrated in Ashfield in Nottinghamshire, where the group of independents won 30 out of the 35 seats.
Undoubtedly, the result of the night, though, went to the Lib Dems in Bath and North East Somerset, where they gained 23 seats as the Conservatives lost 24.
As such, the Lib Dems overturned a comfortable Tory majority in an area in which ardent Brexit supporter Jacob Rees-Mogg is the MP.
Of course, this election was held in perhaps the most favourable circumstances for Vince Cable's Lib Dems for many years.
The two main parties appear to be in disarray about the main political issue of the day whereas the Lib Dems, in fairness, have been rewarded for their straight-forward pro-Remain positioning on Brexit.
Attention now switches to the European elections on 23 May, a rather bizarre visit to the polling booth which will come over a thousand days since the UK voted to leave the European Union.
But, unlike in the elections held this week, two brand-spanking new parties will both stand a slate of candidates in each of the 12 regions.
The awkwardly-named Change UK – The Independent Group will fish for votes in the same Remain-supporting waters as the Lib Dems who can therefore expect their support to become significantly diluted.
However, that does not mean things are due to get any easier for either the Conservatives or Labour as the other newly-registered party is Nigel Farage's latest vehicle - the Brexit Party.
The Brexit Party decided not to stand candidates in the local elections and that left Leave supporters in many areas with nowhere to go.
UKIP is truly a shadow of its former self - it stood candidates in just one in six wards, and even then its sharp decline was neatly demonstrated by a net loss of 36 seats.
Instead, it has emerged on Twitter that - given the paucity of options available to them - some pro-Brexit voters simply spoiled their ballot papers.
On 23 May, though, there will be a Brexit Party candidate against which Leave voters can mark a cross.
Indeed, the latest polling from Yougov shows the Brexit Party hitting 30% and stretching their lead to nine points over Labour, with the Conservatives trailing badly on just 13%.
For sure, it already looks like being another bad night for Mrs May.
ENGLISH LOCAL ELECTIONS
THE FULL RESULTS
METROPOLITAN BOROUGHS
Third of council
| Barnsley | Bolton | Bradford | Bury | Calderdale | Coventry |
| Dudley | Gateshead | Kirklees | Knowsley | Leeds | Liverpool |
| Manchester | Newcastle upon Tyne | North Tyneside | Oldham | Rochdale | Salford |
| Sandwell | Sefton | Sheffield | Solihull | South Tyneside | St Helens |
| Stockport | Sunderland | Tameside | Trafford | Wakefield | Walsall |
| Wigan | Wirral | Wolverhampton |
UNITARY AUTHORITIES
Whole council, unless marked with (+) which denotes a third of the council up for election
| Bath and NE Somerset | Bedford | Blackburn with Darwen (+) | |
| Blackpool | Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole | Bracknell Forest | |
| Brighton and Hove | Central Bedfordshire | Cheshire East | |
| Cheshire West and Chester | Darlington | Derby (+) | |
| Dorset | East Riding of Yorkshire | Halton (+) | |
| Hartlepool (+) | Herefordshire | Hull (+) | |
| Leicester | Luton | Medway | |
| Middlesbrough | Milton Keynes (+) | North East Lincolnshire (+) | |
| North Lincolnshire | North Somerset | Nottingham | |
| Peterborough (+) | Plymouth (+) | Portsmouth (+) | |
| Reading (+) | Redcar and Cleveland | Rutland | |
| Slough (+) | Southampton (+) | Southend-on-Sea (+) | |
| South Gloucestershire | Stockton-on-Tees | Stoke-on-Trent | |
| Swindon (+) | Telford & Wrekin | Thurrock (+) | |
| Torbay | West Berkshire | Windsor & Maidenhead | |
| Wokingham (+) | York |
NON-METROPOLITAN DISTRICTS
| Whole council | |||
| Allerdale | Arun | Ashfield | Ashford |
| Babergh | Barrow-in-Furness | Bassetlaw | Blaby |
| Bolsover | Boston | Braintree | Breckland |
| Broadland | Bromsgrove | Broxtowe | Canterbury |
| Carlisle | Charnwood | Chelmsford | Chesterfield |
| Chichester | Copeland | Cotswold | Crawley |
| Dacorum | Dartford | Derbyshire Dales | Dover |
| Eastbourne | East Cambridgeshire | East Devon | East Hampshire |
| East Hertfordshire | East Lindsey | East Staffordshire | East Suffolk |
| Eden | Epsom and Ewell | Erewash | Fenland |
| Folkstone & Hythe | Forest of Dean | Fylde | Gedling |
| Gravesham | Great Yarmouth | Guildford | Hambleton |
| Harborough | Hertsmere | High Peak | Hinckley and Bosworth |
| Horsham | King's Lynn & W Norfolk | Lancaster | Lewes |
| Lichfield | Maldon | Malvern Hills | Mansfield |
| Melton | Mendip | Mid Devon | Mid Suffolk |
| Mid Sussex | New Forest | Newark and Sherwood | North Devon |
| NE Derbyshire | North Kesteven | North Norfolk | North Warwickshire |
| NW Leicestershire | Norwich | Oadby and Wigston | Preston |
| Reigate and Banstead | Ribble Valley | Richmondshire | Rother |
| Runnymede | Rushcliffe | Ryedale | Scarborough |
| Sedgemoor | Selby | Sevenoaks | Somerset W & Taunton |
| South Derbyshire | South Hams | South Holland | South Kesteven |
| South Norfolk | South Oxfordshire | South Ribble | South Somerset |
| South Staffordshire | Spelthorne | Stafford | Staffordshire Moorlands |
| Stratford-on-Avon | Surrey Heath | Swale | Teignbridge |
| Tendring | Test Valley | Tewkesbury | Thanet |
| Tonbridge and Malling | Torridge | Uttlesford | Vale of the White Horse |
| Warwick | Waverley | Wealden | West Devon |
| West Lindsey | West Suffolk | Wychavon | Wyre |
| Wyre Forest | |||
| Third of council | |||
| Amber Valley | Basildon | Basingstoke and Deane | Brentwood |
| Broxbourne | Burnley | Cambridge | Cannock Chase |
| Castle Point | Cherwell | Chorley | Colchester |
| Craven | Eastleigh | Elmbridge | Epping Forest |
| Exeter | Harlow | Hart | Havant |
| Hyndburn | Ipswich | Lincoln | Maidstone |
| Mole Valley | North Hertfordshire | Pendle | Redditch |
| Rochford | Rossendale | Rugby | Rushmoor |
| St Albans | South Lakeland | Stevenage | Tamworth |
| Tandridge | Three Rivers | Tunbridge Wells | Watford |
| Welwyn Hatfield | West Lancashire | West Oxfordshire | Winchester |
| Woking | Worcester | Worthing |
MAYORAL ELECTIONS
| Bedford | Copeland | Leicester | Mansfield | Middlesbrough | North of Tyne |
Bolded areas indicate change of control
No comments:
Post a Comment