After counting the results of the local elections in all 107 councils in the United Kingdom, the ruling Conservative Party dropped to third place in terms of the number of local deputies, losing to the Liberal Democrats. This was reported by the BBC.
One of the most damaging defeats for the Conservatives came in the West Midlands, where, after a recount with a margin of only 1508 votes, Labor’s Richard Parker became mayor instead of Andy Street.
As a result, Labor won the remaining 11 mayoral seats in Tees Valley, leaving Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s party with only one. The Conservatives also lost more than 470 local councillors, gaining 513 seats.
In a by-election in the South Blackpool constituency, where it lost to Labor and nearly fell into third place to the eurosceptic Reform UK party, the party also failed to retain a seat in the House of Commons.
Labour’s Sadiq Khan has won a historic third term as mayor of London, beating his Conservative rival Susan Hall. Sadiq Khan won with 43.7% of the vote. His Conservative rival, Susan Hall, received 32.6%.
Instead, Labor received 1140 deputies in local councils (185 more), and the opposition Liberal Democratic Party unexpectedly became the second largest party in the local elections by the number of local council members (521).
The Greens also showed a record-breaking result in the local elections: they won 181 seats in local councils, more than 70 more than before.
Despite the defeats, the Conservative Party seems to have abandoned the idea of replacing its leader and prime minister, Rishi Sunak, because the results of the local elections were not as disastrous as expected.
Sunak, however, has already acknowledged the disappointing result of the local elections for the Conservative Party and said he is “fully focused on the work at hand” to improve his ratings ahead of the parliamentary vote.
