Local elections of numerous varieties were held around the United Kingdom today.
Of most relevance are the 32 London Borough elections and elections in the Midlands of England.
While Labour is expected to make significant gains in London, they may not get overwhelming victory they were expecting. In the Midlands of England, they have already LOST at least one council.
Conservatives have picked up Petersborough from No Overall Control.
Labour lost Nuneaton and Bedworth to No Overall Control.
Conservatives have picked up Basildon from No Overall Control.
While it is still very early in the count, the early trends are NOT promising to either Labour or Corbyn.
Labour have done okay thus far,there are results still not in.The council elections have a notoriously low turnout of voters,unless it was a total annihilation for Labour,Corbyn was never in trouble.
I think the onus is on Labour to do very well and they failed to do so. Enough results are in that we can say that tonight is pretty much a mixed bag for all parties, with the exception of the UKIP, where it was a total implosion. With Brexit looking like a done deal, the UKIP’s reason for existence is gone. In the long term, UKIP’s collapse will work in the Tories favor.
The Liberal Democrats have made a slight comeback and even took a council.
But the important point is that Labour’s success in London was only modest instead of overwhelming and in the Midlands, they only made slight gains in some areas, while actually losing ground in other areas.
All in all, the Tories got a moral victory tonight. It SHOULD have been much worse for them.
Corbyn is clearly in danger as far as being Leader of the Labour Party. If this anemic result is all he can pull off, the back benchers of the party will be looking for somebody who can lead them to victory.
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