UK's Labour claim big early win over PM Sunak's Conservatives

[May 03, 2024]  By William James

LONDON (Reuters) -Britain's opposition Labour Party won a parliamentary seat in northern England on Friday and control of several councils, inflicting heavy losses on the governing Conservatives to pile more pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

The thumping victory set the tone for what will be a closely watched two days of local results before a national election this year, which polling shows could put Labour leader Keir Starmer in power and end 14 years of Conservative government.

Voters cast their ballots on Thursday for more than 2,000 seats on local authorities across England and a handful of high-profile mayoral elections, including in the capital, London.

Blackpool South was the only parliamentary seat up for grabs after the Conservative lawmaker quit over a lobbying scandal.

Labour candidate Chris Webb won the Blackpool election with 10,825 votes. The Conservative candidate came in second with 3,218. The swing of 26% to Labour from the 2019 result was the third biggest in post-war by-election history, polling expert John Curtice said.

The defeat in Blackpool and early signs of deep losses at the council level will boost Labour's hopes for a sweeping victory over Sunak's Conservatives in the national election.

"This seismic win in Blackpool South is the most important result today," Starmer said.

"This is the one contest where voters had the chance to send a message to Rishi Sunak's Conservatives directly, and that message is an overwhelming vote for change."

The chairman of the Conservative Party said it had been "a tough night".

"Obviously not a great set of results," Richard Holden told Times Radio.

POOR SHOWING BY CONSERVATIVES

Sunak's Conservatives are about 20 percentage points behind Labour in most opinion polls for the national election, which Sunak has said he intends to call in the second half of the year.

The British leader had hoped his announcement on increased defense spending and the passing of his divisive plan to send illegal asylum seekers to Rwanda might win over voters, but the losses could again fuel calls for him to step down.

Britain's opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer, Shadow Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner and Labour Party MP for Blackpool South Chris Webb react after Labour won a Parliamentary by-election in Blackpool, Britain May 3, 2024. REUTERS/Phil Noble

Curtice said that, based on results so far, the Conservatives could be looking at their worst local election results for 40 years and were on course for defeat in the national election.

The first 500 of the more than 2,600 local council results showed Labour making gains at the expense of the Conservatives - in line with finance minister Jeremy Hunt's pre-vote prediction of significant losses for the governing party.

The Conservatives seized on Starmer's failure to win control of one southeastern council that it had targeted.

Labour said anger over the party's stance on Gaza, where Palestinian health authorities say more than 34,500 people have been killed in Israel's military offensive, had tempered some council results but the overall message from the polls was that people wanted change.

"This is on the eve of a general election ... The mood is that it's time for a change," said Labour's national campaign coordinator, Pat McFadden.

Although local elections do not always reflect how people will vote in a national contest, a heavy defeat could trigger renewed anger in the Conservative Party over Sunak's leadership.

The extent of that unrest could hinge on the results of two mayoral elections in which the Conservatives hope to show they can still hold ground in central and northeast England.

The Tees Valley mayoral result is due on Friday, while the West Midlands mayor is to be announced on Saturday. The result in London, where current Labour mayor Sadiq Khan is expected to win another term, is also due on Saturday.

(Reporting by William James and Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien, Gerry Doyle, Alexander Smith and Alex Richardson)

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