Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Local elections 2023: Sunak 'disappointed' as Starmer eyes victory

Prime minister Rishi Sunak admitted results looked “disappointing”, but claimed he was “not detecting any massive groundswell of movement” towards Labour

Local elections 2023: Sunak 'disappointed' as Starmer eyes victory

The Conservatives suffered high-profile losses as results poured in Friday (6) in what is seen as prime Minister Rishi Sunak's first major electoral test since he took office last year. 

Local council elections held across swathes of England on Thursday (4) with Britons experiencing the worst cost-of-living crisis in decades. 


Sunak admitted results looked "disappointing", but claimed he was "not detecting any massive groundswell of movement" towards Labour or "excitement for its agenda". 

However, with over half of the 230 English districts having declared by late afternoon, the Tories had lost nearly 600 seats and control of almost 30 councils. Labour had netted more than 300 new seats and control of 12 new districts. 

Vote counting in the more than 8,000 seats will only be complete later on Friday, just as the country gears up for Saturday's (6) coronation of King Charles III. 

But Labour leader Keir Starmer crowed that the trend was already clear. 

"Make no mistake, we are on course for a Labour majority at the next general election," he told cheering activists in Medway, southeast England, one of the councils seized by his party from the Tories. 

"We've won the trust, the confidence of voters, and now we can go on to change our country." 

While governing parties often struggle at mid-term elections, the council results in England are the largest, and possibly last, test of voter sentiment before the next national election due by January 2025. 

Labour said they were now on track for power at the next general election. A Sky News projection based on the vote share of the early results said Labour could garner 36-38 per cent of the vote at the next national election, making them the biggest party, with the Conservatives at 28-30 per cent. 

The projection said Labour might fall short of a majority, though that could depend on how it fares in Scotland, where it is competing to take seats from the Scottish National Party and which did not hold local polls. 

A similar BBC projection said Labour would get 35 per cent at a national election and the Conservatives 26 per cent, and some in Sunak's party voiced their disquiet over the results.

Transport minister Huw Merriman indicated the Tories were paying the price for the fallout from several chaotic weeks when they ditched Boris Johnson and then Liz Truss as leader in quick succession. 

Local constituents have been "talking about older news about former prime ministers -- but saying your current leader seems to have what it takes", he told the BBC, insisting that Sunak was on the right track. 

Labour made gains in some areas that backed leaving the European Union in the 2016 Brexit referendum which the party will need to win over if it wants to achieve a majority in the next parliament. 

"Make no mistake, we are on course for a Labour majority at the next general election," 

Starmer said on a visit to Medway. 

The Liberal Democrats gained more than 200 seats and control of six more councils. 

It was making inroads in wealthy Conservative districts on the edge of London that are represented nationally by members of Sunak's cabinet - the "blue wall". 

The Lib Dems took control of the council in Windsor and Maidenhead. 

"We are exceeding all expectations," party leader Ed Davey said. 

"We have delivered a hammer blow to the Conservative party in the blue wall ahead of next year's general election." 

Meanwhile, the Green Party took full control of a council for the first time, in Suffolk in eastern England. 

(Agencies) 

More For You

Experts suspect engine failure or bird hit in Air India crash

Damage at a building following the Air India plane crash, in Ahmedabad. (PTI Photo)

Experts suspect engine failure or bird hit in Air India crash

THE failure of both engines, or a bird hit soon after take-off could be among the probable causes that led to the fatal crash of a London-bound Air India aircraft with 242 people onboard, experts have said.

Three senior wide-body pilots, who are also instructors, said from observing videos of the crash available publicly, it appears the engines could not gain the required thrust needed for the take-off.

Keep ReadingShow less
British national survives Ahmedabad Air India crash

Rescue and relief work underway following the Air India plane crash, in Ahmedabad. (PTI Photo)

British national survives Ahmedabad Air India crash

ONE survivor walked away from the Air India aircraft that crashed at Ahmedabad airport earlier this morning (12), according to the latest reports from India.

Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40, a UK national, was in seat 11A of the Air India Flight 171 bound for London Gatwick when it crashed shortly after take off from Ahmedabad with 242 people on board.

Keep ReadingShow less
Air India crash: Former Gujarat chief minister Rupani was on aircraft

FILE PHOTO: Former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani. (PTI Photo)

Air India crash: Former Gujarat chief minister Rupani was on aircraft

FORMER Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani was believed to be on board the London-bound Air India plane that crashed near the Ahmedabad airport soon after take-off on Thursday (12), a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said.

"Vijay Rupani was going to London by the Air India flight," senior BJP leader Bhupendrasinh Chudasama told reporters in Ahmedabad. "I am going to the city civil hospital to inquire about him," he added.

Keep ReadingShow less
Air India crash: Police collect 204 dead bodies

Police said they had collected 204 dead bodies (PTI photo)

Air India crash: Police collect 204 dead bodies

  • All 242 passengers on board believed to have been killed in the Air India crash AI-171 in Ahmedabad
  • Air India passenger hotline numbers - 1800 5691 444 and for foreign nationals +91 8062779200
  • There were 169 Indian passengers, 53 British, seven Portuguese, and a Canadian on board the flight bound for London Gatwick
  • Contact @HCI_London on the emergency number 07768765035 with regard to emergency visa assistance to travel to India if needed

POLICE in Ahmedabad said they had collected 204 dead bodies after the London-bound Air India aircraft with 242 people on board crashed into residential buildings after takeoff on Thursday (12).

“We have found 204 bodies,” city police commissioner GS Malik said, adding that 41 injured people were “under treatment”.

Keep ReadingShow less
Starmer says scenes of Air India plane crash 'devastating'

Keir Starmer. (Photo by JORDAN PETTITT/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Starmer says scenes of Air India plane crash 'devastating'

PRIME MINISTER Keir Starmer on Thursday (12) expressed his anguish following a plane crash involving a London-bound Air India flight with 53 British nationals among 242 on board, shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad airport.

"The scenes emerging of a London-bound plane carrying many British nationals crashing in the Indian city of Ahmedabad are devastating,” Starmer said in a statement.

Keep ReadingShow less