UK's ruling Conservative Party suffers heavy losses in local polls

Britain's ruling Conservative Party has suffered one of its worst ever election days as massive numbers of voters switched their allegiance in town hall elections across England, reported Xinhua.

By Friday evening, results had been declared in 100 of the 107 councils in England that held elections on Thursday, and the Conservatives have so far lost 433 seats in council chambers, while the main opposition Labour Party have gained 169 seats.

The Conservatives also lost seats at the expense of minority parties, with the Liberal Democrats gaining 94 seats, while the Green Party gaining 66 seats.

One example of the changing political fortunes was at Adur Council in West Sussex where Labour won eight seats to take control of the council chamber from the Conservatives for the first time since the council was created 50 years ago. It was one of eight councils where the Conservatives have so far lost control.

As well as local councillors, millions of people were also voting for regional mayors and police commissioners.

Although the Conservatives clung on, albeit with reduced votes, in the key Tees Valley mayoral election, Labour won the race to become the mayor of the new York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority, an area that includes Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's parliamentary constituency of Richmond.

A Labour Party spokesperson described it as a truly historic result.

As the general election is only months away, elections expert Professor Stuart Wilks-Heeg from the University of Liverpool, in an exclusive interview with Xinhua, said, "It's quite possible that, like in the 1997 general election, which Labour won by a landslide, there'll be a very strong mood of just get the Conservatives out."

The bad news for the Conservatives was made worse by the loss of one of their seats in the House of Commons. In a by-election in the British seaside resort of Blackpool, the Labour Party won the seat from the Conservatives. The 26-percent swing in the voting in Blackpool would point to a landslide for Labour if it was reflected in a general election.

Wilks-Heeg, however, pointed out that the Conservative Party's losses haven't all translated into gains for the Labour.

"Admittedly, it does seem to be the worst-case scenario for the Conservatives. Labour's success relative to the Conservatives is good. It's solid, they've done well, but it's not a stellar performance from Labour," he said.

"Labour has got a few local difficulties. And we've also got other parties picking up in a few places, such as the Greens. We've also got independent candidates doing quite well, where Labour really should be winning," he said. "But overall, it's pretty much what we expected."