[Politics] Election results 2022: PM admits mixed results as Starmer hails London wins

[Mr.Talha]

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-61343355

 

 

Labour has gained several councils from the Conservatives, with Tories suffering losses across England in local election results so far.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said his party was "back on track" to succeed at the next general election.

Boris Johnson conceded the Tories had had a "tough" time in some areas - but argued results had been mixed overall.

The BBC projects Labour would take 35% of votes and the Tories 30%, had all parts of Britain gone to the polls.

The findings - based on the results declared so far from areas which voted on Thursday - put the Liberal Democrats on 19% and other parties on 16%.

Live: Results and reaction as they happen
English results in full
With around two-thirds of the local election counts for England completed, the Tories are on track to lose about 250 council seats in total, according to polling expert Sir John Curtice.

But analysis of key wards suggests Labour's overall support is down by 0.3 percentage points since 2018, when most of the seats up for grabs this time were last contested.

The Liberal Democrats have enjoyed good results, gaining councillors and putting in an improved performance in some Tory heartlands.

Results so far include:

The Conservatives losing control of 10 councils, including Southampton and the London boroughs of Wandsworth, Westminster and Barnet going to Labour
The Liberal Democrats taking Hull City Council from Labour
In a referendum, voters choosing to ditch Bristol's mayoral system and change the way the city council is run
The Tories losing more than 200 councillors in England, with Labour up by more than 40 and the Lib Dems up by more than 100
The full English results - as well as those for councils in Scotland and Wales and for the Northern Ireland Assembly - will be announced later on Friday and on Saturday.

Media caption,
Boris Johnson: Tough night for Tories in some places
Ahead of the elections, the Conservatives had been braced for big losses in England, as they faced attacks over the rising cost of living and the ongoing Partygate scandal, including the prime minister's fine for breaking lockdown rules.

Speaking on a visit to Ruislip, north-west London, Mr Johnson said: "It is mid-term. It's certainly a mixed set of results.

"We had a tough night in some parts of the country, but on the other hand, in other parts of the country you are still seeing Conservatives going forward and making quite remarkable gains in places that haven't voted Conservative for a long time, if ever."

He added that he took personal responsibility for the results, which showed the need for his party to renew its focus on helping people with rising living costs.

Although Conservative losses are not as bad as some in the party had warned, there was still criticism of Mr Johnson from his own side.

The Conservative leader of Carlisle City Council, John Mallinson, said the prime minister "bears a lot of the responsibility" for the results and was a "poor option" to lead the party into the next general election.

Ravi Govindia, leader of the Wandsworth Conservatives, said: "Let's not be coy about it. Of course national issues were part of the dilemma people were facing."

And Conservative MP David Simmonds said Mr Johnson had "difficult questions" to answer, adding: "Overwhelmingly the message that I heard on the doorsteps was people were broadly positive about the government's policies, but they are not happy about what they have been hearing about Partygate."

Presentational grey line
Analysis box by Laura Kuenssberg, political editor
The signs are not of a Conservative rout, even after more than a decade in government, even after the prime minister was fined for lockdown rule-breaking.

So far, this is not a set of results likely to push privately disgruntled Tory MPs to air their grievances in public, or try to move against Boris Johnson.

Yet it is an important staging post for Labour, on course to take the biggest national share of the vote in an election since 2016.

The party has been able to take steps forward with some gains in important pockets of the country, not just piling up votes in London. But the margin is likely to be narrow, not convincing enough for the opposition to be confident they are set for No 10.