The Conservative Party in the United Kingdom suffered heavy defeats in the initial results of the local elections

Britain’s Conservative Party suffered a heavy defeat on Friday in local elections considered a barometer on how the party will perform in the upcoming general election and is a key test for the embattled chancellor, Rishi Sunak.

Only a handful of results had been announced by midday on Friday, but there were already worrying signs for Mr Sunak’s Conservative party. The party has lost about 150 seats so far, including six in Hartlepool, northeast England, where it made inroads after Brexit but has recently lost ground to a resurgent Labor Party.

The Conservatives scored a notable victory in the closely watched Tees Valley mayoral race, also in England’s northeast, where Conservative incumbent Ben Houchen held on, taking mostly decreased.

Elsewhere, however, the picture is decidedly bleak for Mr Sunak, under whose leadership the Conservatives have a double-digit lead over opposition Labor in national polls in 18 months.

In Blackpool South, a northern coastal district, the Labor Party won a special election for a parliamentary seat by a large margin over the Conservatives, who retained the seat. but narrowly finished third, behind Reform UK, a small right-wing party. . The Conservative Party’s previous member of Parliament, Scott Benton, resigned in March after being caught up in a lobbying scandal.

Labor leader Keir Starmer described the result in that seat as a “seismic victory” and the most important result of the day, although many more races were yet to be called.

“This is a contest where voters have the opportunity to send a direct message to Rishi Sunak’s Conservative Party,” Mr Starmer said, “and that message is an overwhelming vote for change.”

Voters went to vote on Thursday in 107 towns and cities in England to elect local council members as well as 11 mayors, including in London, the West Midlands and Tees Valley, in northeast England. More results will be announced throughout Friday and the weekend.

With Mr Sunak’s party severely divided and time running out before he must call a general election next January, the result is being closely scrutinized. While analysts predict the Conservatives will lose a significant number of seats, a worse-than-expected result could embolden Mr Sunak’s critics within the party to try to oust him and install a new leader. another religion.

The prime minister’s allies hope that some visible wins – especially in two regional mayoral races – will reassure Conservative lawmakers, stabilizing his shaky leadership and ended speculation about whether he would lead the party into the general election scheduled for the fall.

Mr. Houchen’s first victory in Tees Valley, has relieved some of the pressure on Mr Sunak. But even that good news has a double edge because Mr. Houchen campaigned largely on his own brand, not his party, and his majority fell from nearly 73% of the vote in 2021 to about 53%.

The results of the other key mayoral contest, in the West Midlands, are not due until Saturday and so is the Conservative candidate there, Andy Street. stay away from yourself party during the campaign.

Even if the Conservatives win both of those races, they are bracing for the loss of at least 400 assembly seats among the 985 states they are defending. Many of these elections took place in towns and cities that were traditionally dominated by the Labor Party, but switched to the Conservatives in the years following the 2016 Brexit referendum.

To make matters more difficult, the last time many of these races took place, in 2021, Mr. Sunak’s Conservative Party was enjoying a period of popularity thanks to the fact that one of his predecessors he, Boris Johnson, aggressively deploys the coronavirus vaccine. That means the Conservatives may have a long way to go.

In addition to Hartlepool, the Labor Party gained control of councils in Redditch, Thurrock and Rushmoor in Hampshire, although it suffered defeat in Oldham, where it remained the largest party but lost overall control of council after several seats fell to independent parties. .

That result reflects dissent over the Labor Party’s position on the Israel-Hamas war, especially among Muslim voters, many of whom believe the party’s leaders should criticized Israel’s military actions in Gaza.

“The idea that the Labor Party is having some local difficulties has to do with its stance,” Chris Hopkins, director of political research at Savanta, a polling and market research firm, wrote in a commentary. Their approach to Gaza appears to be applying.

For Mr Starmer, the election is a chance to show that he has a credible chance of becoming Britain’s next prime minister, as current polling suggests. Despite his party’s large numbers, few voters seem enthusiastic about Mr. Starmer, who is seen as a capable but not particularly charismatic politician.

Voters in London will have to wait until Saturday to find out whether their mayor, Sadiq Khan, will win a third term, the first for a London mayor since the office was created. established in 2000. Mr Khan’s defeat by his Conservative Party rival, Susan Hall, would be a big surprise, given that the British capital leans left politically, but assuming he wins, the odds wins will be watched for signs of waning support.

However, the most important challenge is for the Conservative Party. The heavy loss of seats could demoralize party loyalists and spook Conservative lawmakers, who fear they will be booted from Parliament in a general election.

Since the last election in 2019, the Conservative Party has ousted two leaders, Mr. Johnson and Liz Truss. Toppling a third would be risky, as there is no obvious replacement more assured of success than Mr Sunak, who was chancellor of the Treasury under Mr Johnson.

Mr Johnson provided a reminder of his disorganized leadership style on Thursday when he arrived at a polling station without the necessary photo identification – a requirement his government introduced in 2022 – and was denied (he later returned with proper identification).

For Mr Sunak, the polls are now so fierce that some see a new leader as the only viable way to fend off a heavy general election defeat. In January, a former cabinet minister, Simon Clarke, called for the prime minister to resign, but that failed to provoke a wider rebellion.

For those who think such a gamble is worth taking, the aftermath of local elections will likely be the last chance to stand up to Mr Sunak before he puts his party on alert for the general election. elected.

The Conservative Party’s poor performance in local elections in 2022 was a prelude to Mr. Johnson’s ouster, though not the cause of it: He was eventually purged two months later after mishandling an unrelated scandal.

Mr Sunak’s supporters say he can benefit from falling inflation, the prospect of an economic recovery and by taking action His plan was to put asylum seekers on one-way flights to Rwandaa policy favored by the Conservative Party and many of which help counter the threat from the UK’s anti-immigration Reform party.