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Theresa May, Source: Raul Mee (EU2017EE) on flickr.com

Conservatives suffer record losses in UK local elections

Conservatives suffer record losses in UK local elections

The Tories had their worst election night since 1995, losing over 1,300 local council seats

The defeat that the ruling Conservative party suffered in the local elections of 2 May surpassed all expectations. In last week’s analysis, we stated that the loss of the Tories appeared inevitable. “Loss” turned out to be a severe understatement. The Conservative party finds itself 1,334 councilors short compared to 3 days ago and has ceded control of 44 local councils. 

The main opposition party also suffered losses – 82 councilors and 6 councils. Given the state of national politics and the failures of the government to deliver on Brexit, these elections should have been a free win for Labour. But despite their opponents doing everything wrong, they still could not turn these elections into a win – all they managed to do is replace a severe mauling with a regular beating.

The big winners of these elections are the parties that have been campaigning for the UK to remain inside the European Union. Namely the Liberal Democrats – they gained 703 seats, more than doubling in strength. The Greens also made breakthroughs and increased their number of councilors to 265 - a gain of almost 200.

What was previously only speculation is now an absolute certainty – these elections were not about local issues. They were the victim of Brexit and its unstoppable power to stomp over all other problems that might plague the country.

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