Tories lose almost half of councillors in landslide
THE Prime Minister looked to the Tees Valley for consolation as his party suffered a drubbing in the local elections.
Lord Ben Houchen’s re-election on Teesside was one of the few bright spots for the Conservatives as the party lost around 50 per cent of its councillors across England just months away from a general election.
Meanwhile, Labour hailed a “truly historic” result in Rishi 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 in parliamentary elections.
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.
Of the 107 councils that held elections on Thursday, 56 had declared their full results by the time the Derby Telegraph went to print, with the Conservatives losing half of the seats it had been defending so far.
Labour has won all three of the new mayoral posts up for grabs this year, in the East Midlands, North East and York & North Yorkshire, while Conservative Ben Houchen secured a third term at Tees Valley.
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 are expected to finish declaring their results by the end of Friday, with election experts suggesting the final outcome could be the Conservatives’ worst performance for 40 years.