Keir’s big test
BRITAIN goes to the polls tomorrow in local elections that are being seen as both a test of Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership of the Labour Party and a judgement on the performance of local councillors during the pandemic as well as on Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Nationally, the outcome of the electoral race could have major ramifications for politics in the UK, and perhaps the Union itself, with the Scottish National Party (SNP) pledging to use a good result to press for a second independence referendum.
Here in the South West, there will be major changes, whatever the results. In Cornwall, the unitary authority is being dramatically slimmed down following a boundary review and a shake-up of council wards.
In the country as a whole, about 48 million people are eligible to vote on what has been dubbed ‘Super Thursday’ in elections which are taking place against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic.
Mayors and councils will be selected in parts of England, while parliaments will be chosen in Wales and Scotland.
A by-election will take place in Hartlepool in the first parliamentary electoral challenge for Sir Keir at the helm of Labour, in a major test for his leadership.
Covid-19 has already shaped the election in swelling its scale, with ballots in England having been postponed during the first wave of the crisis last year, but the pandemic is also expected to be front and centre of many voters’ minds, with some anticipating a “vaccine boost” for the Tories due to the success of the roll-out so far.
Oppositions typically hope to make gains in local elections, as voters register their discontent against the Government of the day, but polls have suggested Labour may struggle in its former heartlands.
If the Conservatives make fresh inroads in the North and the Midlands, the Government would welcome that as further approval of its “levelling up” agenda and would use it as a defence to allegations of sleaze that have been battering Mr Johnson.
However, the greatest electoral test is for Sir Keir – his first since taking over from Jeremy Corbyn, who stood down in the wake of the 2019 general election defeat for Labour as some traditional voters headed to the Tories in their support for Brexit.
In parts of the Westcountry, particularly Cornwall, Labour will be hoping to build on progress made in parliamentary elections to improve on its current poor representation on Cornwall Council, where the party holds just four seats.
At the other end of Britain, the stakes are also high in Scotland’s parliamentary elections. SNP leader and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has been clear that a majority for her party should be rewarded with a second independence referendum, but that would put her on a collision course with the Prime Minister, who vehemently opposes “IndyRef2”.
Labour is seeking to maintain its grip on the Senedd in Wales, where police and crime commissions are up for election, as they are in England. Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner Alison Hernandez is defending her post for the Conservatives after an extra year in office following last year’s postponed vote.
Sadiq Khan is widely expected to