UK local elections: Sunak, Conservatives suffer big losses; Labour appears headed for power
Britain’s governing Conservative Party is suffering heavy losses as an array of election results pour in Friday, piling pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ahead of a U.K. general election in which the main opposition Labour Party appears increasingly likely to return to power after 14 years.
LONDON — Britain’s governing Conservative Party is suffering heavy losses as an array of election results pour in Friday, piling pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ahead of a U.K. general election in which the main opposition Labour Party appears increasingly likely to return to power after 14 years.
Labour won control of councils in England it hasn’t held for decades and was successful in a special by-election for Parliament that if repeated in a general election in coming months, would lead to one of the Conservative’s biggest-ever defeats.
Its only negative for Labour has been in some areas with large Muslim populations, such as Oldham in northwest England, where the party’s candidates appear to have suffered as a result of leader Keir Starmer ‘s strongly pro-Israel stance in the conflict in Gaza.
Perhaps most important in the context of the looming general election, which has to take place by January but could come as soon as next month, Labour won back Blackpool South in the northwest of England that went Conservative in the last general election in 2019, when then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson won a big victory. In the contest, triggered by the resignation of a Conservative lawmaker following a lobbying scandal, Labour’s Chris Webb secured 10,825 votes, 7,607 more than his second-placed Conservative opponent.
Labour leader Starmer went to Blackpool to congratulate Webb on his success and urged Sunak to call a general election.
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