Keir Starmer has declared the country is ready for change as the Tories suffered catastrophic local election results.
The Labour leader said voters are crying out for a general election as he toasted victories that put him on course for No10.
Rishi Sunak was humiliated in his own backyard as Labour took the York and North Yorkshire mayoralty. Mr Starmer said it was a “special moment” as he held a rally in Northallerton in the PM’s constituency on Friday night.
Labour won big in the Blackpool South by-election, while snatching councils in areas that are key parliamentary battlegrounds including Nuneaton, Hartlepool, Milton Keynes, Redditch, Thurrock and Hyndburn.
Across the country, the Tories lost over 300 council seats as it was on course for one of its worst performances in 40 years. Mr Sunak said the results were “disappointing” but insisted at the general election voters “are going to stick with us”.
The Prime Minister appears to have escaped a fresh push to oust him after Tory Ben Houchen clung on as Tees Valley Mayor. Andy Street may also manage to avoid defeat in the West Midlands mayoral race on Saturday.
In Blackpool South, Labour won decisively with a colossal 26.3% swing, which is the third largest from the Conservatives to the party at a by-election since the Second World War.
Mr Starmer said the message from voters to Mr Sunak was “make way”, adding: “We want that general election and we are confident going into that general election because what this by-election shows is the country wants change.”
Lord Houchen survived in Tees Valley despite having his lead slashed significantly. If Labour repeated the same 16.7% swing at a general election, it would win every seat in the area. The party said Lord Houchen, who did not wear a Tory election rosette to the count, had run his campaign as a “pseudo-independent”. Earlier this week, he admitted that many of his supports “probably won’t be voting for the Conservative Party in the general election”.
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Labour won the newly-created East Midlands and North East mayoralties. It also gained police and crime commissioners from the Conservatives in Avon & Somerset, Bedfordshire, Cumbria Norfolk, Northamptonshire and Lancashire.
Labour scored victory in the home of the British Army by snatching Rushmoor Council in Hampshire, which includes Aldershot Garrison, for the first time ever. It took back Hartlepool Council, where Mr Starmer suffered a by-election disaster in 2021, while seizing control of Nuneaton and Bedworth in Warwickshire, a key general election bellwether.
Other councils snatched by Labour included Adur in West Sussex, which has always been Tories in its 50-year-history.
But the party did not perform so well in some areas with a large proportion of Muslim voters. A backlash over Labour’s stance on Gaza saw it lose control of Oldham Council. Mr Starmer admitted he was “concerned wherever we lose votes” and intended to win them back.
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Voters are demanding a general election now as Rishi Sunak’s government fails to turn the country around.
The Prime Minister was handed the keys of No10 in October 2022 without a single vote being cast by Tory MPs, party members or the public. He has binned the Conservatives’ 2019 election manifesto as well as the pledges he made when he ran against Liz Truss to be leader.
Mr Sunak promised to lead a government with “integrity, professionalism and accountability” at every level, but he has faced a series of sleaze scandals.
Critics have warned that the country is broken after 14 years of Tory rule. The economy is in recession, families are struggling with the rising cost of living, patients face huge NHS waiting lists and classrooms have been closed because of dodgy concrete in schools.
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Downing Street had been braced for the possibility that Tory MPs might launch a bid to remove Mr Sunak this weekend. But on Friday some of the PM’s critics suggested there would be no point. Ex-MP Nadine Dorries said: “Changing Prime Minister now would make no difference to the outcome at a General Election.”
Dame Andrea Jenkyns, the first Tory MP to publicly submit a letter of no confidence in Mr Sunak, conceded it was “unlikely” her colleagues will follow her and trigger a leadership election.
Lee Anderson, the Reform MP who defected from the Tories, said: “I think Rishi Sunak could fly over the UK tonight in a helicopter and drop £1million down every chimney and they’d still vote him out come October.”
Votes will be counted in mayoral races including London, the West Midlands and Greater Manchester on Saturday. Sadiq Khan is hoping to become the first person ever to win a third term as the mayor of the capital. Tory Andy Street faces a close fight in the West Midlands, while Andy Burnham is expected to win comfortably in Greater Manchester.
Mayors will also be announced in the Liverpool City region, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and Salford. The results of 10 police and crime commissioner elections are due on Saturday, along with the final remaining local council declarations.