Skip to main content
Local elections were a disaster for the Tories – and bad news for Labour
After 14 years of Tory rule there's little enthusiasm for Starmer and his menu of reheated Thatcherism, writes CLAUDIA WEBBE
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak greets supporters in Teesside celebrating Lord Ben Houchen's re-election as Tees Valley Mayor, May 3, 2024

LAST WEEK’S local election results were widely and rightly portrayed as a disaster for the Conservatives and a sign that Britain is desperate for change.

Rishi Sunak’s party lost more than half the seats it was trying to hold, along with a slew of councils and mayoral contests — and lost heavily even in mayoral contests it managed to defend, such as Tees Valley. But in fact, the Tories only went backward slightly in terms of overall vote share compared to their already-poor performance, with “national equivalent vote” predictions putting the Tories on 27 per cent. 

But while the results showed clearly that British voters want change, there was no landslide to Labour. While Keir Starmer’s party picked up seats, according to political scientist John Curtice, the party went backwards compared to a year ago and recent polling giving Labour as much as 47 per cent of the Westminster vote turned into a projected 34 per cent when voters went to the actual ballot box, just 7 per cent ahead of the Tories. On the equivalent measure, Tony Blair’s Labour was more than 20 points ahead of the Tories in 1995, before the 1997 general election landslide.

Donate to the Fighting Fund
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Children sit and play on the remains of a tank, at the river
Features / 21 April 2025
21 April 2025

Keir Starmer’s £120 million to Sudan cannot cover the government’s complicity in the RSF genocide or atone for the long shadow of British colonialism and imperialism, writes CLAUDIA WEBBE

NO SAFE ZONES: Children walk by the destroyed house of journ
Features / 8 April 2025
8 April 2025
As Israel’s crimes escalate, Keir Starmer’s government must not subvert, block or ignore the investigation and prosecution of British citizens involved in acts of genocide, writes CLAUDIA WEBBE
DEFIANT: Mexican
President Claudia
Sheinbaum
Features / 10 March 2025
10 March 2025
With trade wars backfiring, allies resisting military demands, and approval ratings plummeting, Trump’s dangerous pursuit of colonial ambitions threatens to end the ‘American century’ with catastrophic conflict, warns CLAUDIA WEBBE
DAMAGING AGENDA:
Work and Pensions
Secretary Liz Kendall
Features / 24 February 2025
24 February 2025
Labour is deliberately continuing Tory policies that cost us £38 billion more than they save while driving illness rates higher — despite the evidence that previous sanctions doubled suicide attempts, writes CLAUDIA WEBBE
Similar stories
Cartoon: Lewis Marsden
Features / 21 August 2024
21 August 2024
The more Starmer’s government demonstrates its inability to offer real change, the more its chances of securing a second term diminish, warns MICK WHITLEY
VICTORIOUS: Green Party
co-leader Carla Denyer after
casting
Features / 15 July 2024
15 July 2024
Labour’s low-vote landslide was enabled by the far right and opens the door wider to fascism, argues CLAUDIA WEBBE
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer poses for a photograph with
Opinion / 10 July 2024
10 July 2024
by Radhika Desai, Alan Freeman and Carlos Martinez
A ballot box arrives during the count for the Blackpool Sout
Britain / 3 May 2024
3 May 2024