Inside Politics: ‘This was the Tories’ jewel in the crown’
Big night for Labour in London as party takes control of symbolic councils but modest gains elsewhere, writes Matt Mathers
You’re all here for local election results and reaction. So let’s get straight to it.
Daily Briefing
- LONDON CALLING: The results are still pouring in and the full national picture is not yet entirely clear, but we know already it is a big night for Labour in London, where the party has taken control of key councils including Wandsworth and Westminster, also winning in Barnet. Wandsworth, said to be Margaret Thatcher’s favourite council because of its low taxes, has been under Tory control since 1978. As the result became clear, a Labour source claimed that Boris Johnson losing the there is “monumental”. “This was the Tories’ jewel in the crown,” the source said. Westminster, meanwhile, has been run by the Conservatives since its creation in 1964.
- ‘WARNING SHOT’: The win in Barnet, meanwhile, suggests that, under Keir Starmer’s leadership, Labour is beginning to heal antisemitism wounds from the Jeremy Corbyn era. Before Barnet was declared, Daniel Thomas, the Conservative group leader there, said voters had fired a “warning shot” to the government. “They [Labour] won the council, if they win our parliamentary constituencies as well, then it doesn’t bode well for us to form a government in future general elections.”
- MIXED PICTURE: The wins in Wandsworth, Westminster and Barnet are undoubtedly symbolic for Labour and will grab a lot of attention today, but if the party is to have any hope of forming that next government then it will need to regain support outside of London and in ‘red wall’ areas in the north and midlands, where the picture looks less rosy. The party has made modest giants outside the capital and has lost control of Hull to the Liberal Democrats and failed to make progress in Hull, where it suffered a humiliating parliamentary byelection defeat in May last year.
- BLUE WALL ROUT: The other big story of today is going to be the progress made by the Liberal Democrats, who as things stand, have gained more council seats than Labour. As was widely expected, the party has taken plenty of seats from the Tories in their “true blue” heartlands in the south of England, where voters are said to have been particularly angry about Partygate. Out on the broadcast round earlier, Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, said it had been a big night for his party. “There are more results to come, but it is looking like a historic night for the Liberal Democrats, particularly in Conservative heartlands like Wimbledon, West Oxfordshire, in Cheadle, Stockport, where we’re making big gains from the Conservatives,” he told BBC Radio 4 Today. “Gains we can turn into seats at the next election,” he added.
- SCORES ON THE DOORS: At the time of writing around half of councils in England had declared results, with the rest to follow later today. The result were as follows: LAB (1,189) +38 | CON (535) -124 | LIB DEM (257) +57 | RA (40) +6 | IND (39) - | GRN (39) + 23. Counting begins in Scotland at 9am. In Northern Ireland, where the most consequential elections are taking place, ballot counting began at 8am. We’ll have all the latest results and reaction on our liveblog.
- INFLATION NATION: Some Tories have already begun turning their fire on the prime minister over the loss of seats in southern England, but early indications suggest the results may not be bad enough to trigger a fresh wave of calls from backbench MPs for him to resign. It has often been said that it could be rising inflation and the state of the economy that ends up sinking Johnson’s premiership, and there was more bad news for him on that front yesterday. In the big story of the day, the Bank of England hiked interest rates to 1 per cent and warned that inflation will spiral to more than 10 per cent by October. Andrew Bailey, the BoE’s governor warned the UK faces a sharp slowdown in economic activity.
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On the record
“It is a very weak projection, a very sharp slowdown. There’s a technical definition of a recession it doesn’t meet — but put that to one side — it is a very sharp slowdown in activity.”
Bank of England governor says the UK economy is facing a sharp slowdown.
From the Twitterati
“BBC analysis suggests Labour will end the night with a modest lead in vote share”
BBC Newsnight policy editor Lewis Goodall on election results.
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