The Tories have lost 48 councils and over 1,000 councillors, exceeding their worst predictions. This marks the first time since 2002 that Labour has become the largest party in local government. The Liberal Democrats also celebrated their “best result in decades”, gaining control of 12 councils, mostly in traditionally Conservative areas.
The elections of 230 councils in England were seen as the first major test of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s electoral popularity since he won a Tory leadership contest and became prime minister last October. However, despite admitting that the results were “disappointing”, Mr Sunak has stated that he did not detect “a massive groundswell of movement towards the Labour Party”.
