Tories lose almost half of their councillors in local elections, but one result gives UK prime minister Rishi Sunak solace

The Tories suffered a drubbing in the British local elections yesterday, losing around half of their councillors.

However, with a general election just months away, UK prime minister Rishi Sunak has looked to the Tees Valley for consolation as Ben Houchen’s re-election on Teesside was one of the few bright spots for the Conservatives.

Meanwhile, Labour hailed a “truly historic” result in Mr Sunak’s own backyard of York and North Yorkshire, where David Skaith defeated Tory Keane Duncan by almost 15,000 votes.

The region, which was electing a mayor for the first time, covers Mr Sunak’s Richmond constituency and Labour has historically struggled to compete there in parliamentary elections.

Speaking at Northallerton Town Football Club, Labour leader Keir Starmer said the result was a “historic victory” for Labour in “the heart of Tory territory”.

He said: “We’ve had a positive campaign here and I am very, very proud to stand here as leader of the Labour Party to celebrate this historic victory.

“And it is a historic victory – these are places where we would not have usually had a Labour Party success but we’ve been able to create that success and persuade people to vote for us.”

Labour also avoided potential embarrassment in the north-east mayoral contest, where its candidate Kim McGuinness overcame Independent Jamie Driscoll, who had quit Labour after being barred from running as the party’s candidate himself.

In the East Midlands, Labour’s Claire Ward became the region’s first elected mayor with a majority of more than 50,000 votes over Tory Ben Bradley who also sits as MP for Mansfield and leader of Nottinghamshire County Council.

Of the 107 councils that held elections on Thursday, 85 have declared their full results, with the Conservative party losing more than half of the seats it has been defending so far.

Some 257 out of 515 Tory councillors lost their seats as the party lost control of six councils.

Labour won control of seven councils as it gained 169 seats, while the Liberal Democrats gained 40 seats and the Greens 32.

Further results are expected over the weekend, including key mayoral contests in London and the West Midlands.

Labour’s Sadiq Khan is attempting to secure re-election in London, while Conservative Andy Street is defending his position in the West Midlands.

Most councils were expected to finish declaring their results by last night, with election expert John Curtice suggesting the final outcome could be the Conservatives’ worst performance for 40 years. Other results still to be announced include council elections in the South and West of England where the Liberal Democrats and Greens hope to make progress.

But while he acknowledged that results were “disappointing”, Mr Sunak was keen to stress his party’s victory in Tees Valley as a sign that Labour was not on course to win the general election.

Appearing alongside Mr Houchen at a victory rally, Mr Sunak said: “I’ve got a message for the Labour Party, too, because they know that they have to win here in order to win a general election – they know that.

“They assumed that Tees Valley would stroll back to them – but it didn’t.”

Labour sources pointed to Mr Houchen’s much-reduced majority, saying the swing against him would be enough to give Labour victory in all the parliamentary seats in the Tees Valley, and claimed he had only managed to win by campaigning as a “pseudo-independent”.

Mr Houchen denied that he had sought to distance himself from Mr Sunak, saying: “People around here know I’m a Conservative.”

Victory in Tees Valley is likely to have quelled efforts to topple Mr Sunak in light of other local election results, and his position will be further secured if the Tories can hold on to the West Midlands mayoralty.

Labour suffered setbacks in Oldham and Kirklees, where it lost control of the councils after victories for Independent candidates opposed to its stance on the conflict in Gaza.

Commentators suggested anger at Labour’s position on Gaza had cost it votes in other areas of the country such as Rochdale.

Mr Starmer conceded he was “concerned wherever we lose votes”, with the party’s national campaign co-ordinator Pat McFadden admitting the crisis in the Middle East was likely to have been a factor.

Thursday night also brought victory for Labour in the Blackpool South by-election, where the party secured a 26.3pc swing from the Conservatives.

Hailing the victory, Mr Starmer said: “This is the one contest where voters had the chance to send a message to Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives directly, and that message is an overwhelming vote for change.”

A strong showing there by Reform UK will add to Tory unease about Mr Sunak’s ability to lead the party to a general election victory.

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