- Written by Kate Whannell
- BBC News political reporter
Sir Keir Starmer’s Labor Party won consecutive local mayoral elections, adding to the Tory election misery.
Following a series of disastrous local council results, the Conservative Party was pinning its hopes on incumbent Andy Street to retain the West Midlands.
However, he lost to Labour’s Richard Parker by just 1,508 votes, dealing another blow to Rishi Sunak.
The Prime Minister now faces the task of rallying his battered party ahead of a general election due in the coming months.
A dramatic defeat in the West Midlands, only confirmed after a painful recount, saw Ben Houchen in the Tees Valley lose the Conservative seat in the only mayoral election of 11 held across England. It capped off the party’s disastrous results.
The Conservative Party lost more than 470 councilors and control of 10 councils in the local government elections.
The party also failed to hold on to its seat in Blackpool South, where it lost to Labor and almost to third place to Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party successor, Reform UK.
Despite the poor performance, talk of disgruntled Tory MPs potentially ousting Mr Sunak as leader appears to have died down.
Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, former home secretary and Sunak critic Suela Braverman said: “We must not change leaders. Changing leaders now will not work. The time for that has passed.” said.
“The hole we have to dig ourselves out of is the Prime Minister. It’s time for the Prime Minister to start shoveling snow.”
Mr Sunak said he was disappointed to lose Mr Street and a “dedicated” MP, but by sticking to his party’s plan: “We will secure our borders, grow our economy and protect this great country. We create opportunities for everyone to prosper and prosper.” ”
Celebrating with supporters in Birmingham, Labor leader Sir Keir said: “We started with a swing of 26% in Blackpool and finished in the West Midlands with new mayor Richard Parker, but also the Mayor’s Council, the council, the police and a lot in between,” the Crime Commissioner said. ”
He said the “astounding” result in the West Midlands was “beyond our expectations”, adding that voters were “satisfied with 14 years of decline, chaos and division”, and told Mr Sunak: He urged the holding of a general election.
Elsewhere, smaller opposition parties fared well, with the Liberal Democrats returning 521 MPs, more than the Conservatives’ 513, while the Greens secured a record number of seats.
Of the 11 mayoral races, Labor will win East Midlands, Greater Manchester, Greater London, Liverpool City Region, North East, Salford, South Yorkshire, West Midlands, West Yorkshire, York and We won 10 areas in North Yorkshire.
The party has much to smile about this weekend, but there will also be fears of an apparent backlash in some Muslim areas over the party’s stance on the Gaza Strip.
In the 58 council wards analyzed by the BBC, where more than one in five residents identify as Muslim, Labor’s vote share was 21% higher than in 2021, when the majority of seats were last contested. Diminished.
The potential impact on the general election is unclear, but some evidence suggests that the biggest declines in support were mainly confined to regions where the party’s support was already very strong.
Asked if he was worried about losing votes on the issue, Sir Keir said: “I am. “If I haven’t been able to persuade people who might have voted Labor to say I heard it, it’s important that I acknowledge that I have done so,” he said. I am determined to respond to their concerns. ”
This was a downside to an otherwise strong performance for Labor, which had won 185 MPs and controlled eight parliaments.
The party also won 10 new Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) from the Conservative Party, bringing the total between the two parties to 17 each. His PCC candidate of Plaid Cymru won with his Dyfed-Powys.
Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats are celebrating gaining more than 100 MPs and taking control of the councils of Dorset and Tunbridge Wells.
However, it failed to secure a majority of seats in its target areas of West Oxfordshire and Wokingham.
“Tory MPs across the country will be watching themselves in fear of the Liberal Democrats, who won more seats than they did in this election,” party leader Sir Ed Davey said.
The Green Party praised a “record-breaking campaign” after gaining more than 70 seats to take a total of 181 seats.
Reform UK fared well against the Conservatives in the Blackpool South by-election by just 117 votes.
George Galloway’s British Labor Party won four seats, including Manchester City, which removed Labour’s deputy leader Lutfur Rahman from the seat.
The Women’s Equality Party won its first parliamentary seat when Stacey Hart was elected to Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council.
