Rishi Sunak vows to combat on as West Mids mayor awaits voters’ verdict
Defiant Rishi Sunak insisted Tories have ‘everything to fight for’ today as hopes rise that West Mids mayor Andy Street can hold on despite local elections carnage.
Putting a brave face on grim results, the PM admitted that voters are ‘frustrated’ but argued that Keir Starmer has not sealed the deal.
Mr Sunak is willing Mr Street to join Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen in securing a third term this afternoon, with the outcome thought to be on a knife edge.
Lord Houchen’s success has seemingly helped Mr Sunak quell a fresh coup bid from rebels, most of whom who have now conceded the leader will not change before the general election.
Putting a brave face on grim election results, Rishi Sunak admitted that voters are ‘frustrated’ but argued that Keir Starmer has not sealed the deal
Mr Sunak is willing Andy Street (pictured) to join Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen in securing a third term this afternoon, with the outcome thought to be on a knife edge
However, the broader picture for the Conservatives was relentlessly grim, with the party likely to end up losing 500 councillors in one of the worst showings for 40 years.
The Blackpool South by-election caused particular consternation as Labour stormed the seat with a 26 point swing – and the Tories only barely scraped into second ahead of Reform.
It was not all plain sailing for Sir Keir though, with experts warning that a slump in support in areas with large Muslim populations suggested he was ‘in trouble’.
Mr Sunak insisted he can still turn the situation around, saying people are ‘frustrated and wondering why they should vote’.
‘The fact Labour is not winning in places that they admit themselves they need for a majority, shows that Keir Starmer‘s lack of plan and vision is hurting them,’ he said.
‘We Conservatives have everything to fight for – and we will because we are fighting for our values and our country’s future.’
Mr Sunak pointed to his party’s recent commitment to hike defence spending and cut migration as clear dividing lines with Labour.
But polling guru Prof John Curtice said the results demonstrated Mr Sunak has ‘very little to show’ for his efforts to restore the Tories’ fortunes after Liz Truss’s abrtive premiership.
The election expert told the BBC: ‘There is nothing in these results to suggest contrary to the opinion polls that the Conservatives are actually beginning to narrow the gap on Labour, and that so far at least, Rishi Sunak’s project which has tried to recover from the disaster – from the Conservatives’ point of view – of the Liz Truss fiscal event, that project has still got very little to show for it.
‘That in a sense is the big takeaway.
‘Now the Conservatives, as when all parties do badly in elections, they always want you to focus on the exception rather than the rule, and Tees Valley and probably the West Midlands are the exceptions not the rule.’
On Labour losses over its stance on Gaza, Sir John said: ‘At the moment I think what we would find if we had a general election is that Labour might well fall back in some of these seats, but because the Labour Party is already so strong, they would probably still succeed in winning the parliamentary election.
‘But yep, this is a big message to Labour from these local elections, is that you are indeed now in trouble with some of your Muslim former supporters.’
It was not all plain sailing for Keir Starmer (pictured) though, with experts warning that a slump in support in areas with large Muslim populations suggested he was ‘in trouble’
Mr Sunak suffered a blow in his own back yard as Labour took the York and North Yorkshire mayor post.
The region, which covers the PM’s Richmond constituency, is somewhere Labour has historically struggled to compete in parliamentary elections.
Labour also won inaugural mayoral contests in the East Midlands and the North East, and gained nine police and crime commissioner posts from the Tories, including in Cumbria, Avon and Somerset, and Norfolk.
But in a smattering of councils, the Opposition party lost seats to independents and George Galloway’s Workers Party of Britain, all apparently over the party’s stance on Gaza.
Overall, Labour won control of eight councils as it saw a net gain of 204 seats, while the Liberal Democrats gained 92 seats and the Greens 58.
The Liberal Democrats’ most significant victory was winning control of Dorset council from the Conservatives, where it now has 42 of the 82 seats after gaining 15.
The Greens fell narrowly short of taking overall control of Bristol, one of their top targets, despite gaining 10 seats.
Despite results that left the Conservatives on track to lose half the seats they contested, rebels admitted they had not persuaded enough MPs to join them to force a vote of no confidence in Mr Sunak’s leadership.
One rebel told the Mail simply: ‘We’re off to the pub.’
Labour jitters have been spreading over Sadiq Khan’s prospects in London amid claims of low turnout and a backlash over ULEZ and Gaza
Polls ahead of the election suggested that the London incumbent was on track for a comfortable victory over Tory rival Susan Hall (pictured)
Dame Andrea Jenkyns, the first Tory MP to publicly move against the PM, said it was ‘unlikely’ that others would follow in sufficient numbers to trigger a leadership contest.
‘My stance is the same,’ she said. ‘But we are where we are and it is looking unlikely that the MPs are going to put the letters in, so we need to pull together.’
Former Cabinet minister Nadine Dorries – another high-profile critic of the PM – said it would be ‘madness’ to try to replace Mr Sunak before the general election, adding that it would ‘make no difference’ to the result.
One rebel source said it was clear that Mr Sunak would ‘limp on to the election’, adding: ‘We’re not kamikaze pilots. In the end, there are too many MPs with their heads stuck in the sand for it to work.’
