It’s been a disappointing night for the Tories in the English local elections
The Conservative Party have lost control of key London councils in the English local elections in what has been a difficult night for Tory councillors.
The Tories are on track to lose roughly 250 seats across England, according to the BBC, and have suffered some historic council losses.
In one of the most significant results so far, Labour has won the London borough of Wandsworth from the Conservatives, who had held it since 1978
The Tories have also lost Westminster council to Labour, an area they had held since it was created in 1964.
Barnet and Southampton councils have also flipped from Tory to Labour control.
Antony Mullen, the leader of the Conservatives on Sunderland Council, said the Partygate scandal had “suppressed turnout” in the city. Labour retained the council with one fewer seat.
And Ravi Govindia, the leader of the Wandsworth Conservatives said that “of course national issues were part of the dilemma people were facing” in choosing who to vote for.
Former Conservative MP @GavinBarwell says #LocalElections2022 results are very worrying for Boris Johnson pic.twitter.com/dpKUukMxOb
— PoliticsJOE (@PoliticsJOE_UK) May 6, 2022
But it hasn’t been all good news for Keir Starmer and Labour, with the Lib Dems regaining control of Hull City Council party from them, after a decade of Labour control.
The Lib Dem leader in the city, councillor Mike Ross, said it was “an emphatic vote for change in Hull.”
He told the BBC: “Locally people are fed up with a Labour council that they felt was no longer listening to them.”
And the Tories have managed to hold on to majorities on councils in areas such as Redditch, Amber Valley and Dudley.
Counts are also underway in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, with results from these elections and from mayoral contests set to be announced later on Friday and into Saturday.
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