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Local elections 2017: How things look across rest of UK
Theresa May’s hopes of a General Election victory on June 8 have been boosted
after local contests showed Labour suffering losses and the Ukip vote
collapsing. The Conservatives won the West of England metro-mayor contest and
gained control of five councils on an encouraging night for the Prime Minister,
Labour’s election co-ordinator Andrew Gwynne acknowledged there were
“challenges” for his party as it struggled in some of its Welsh heartlands and
failed to resist Tory advances in England. Ukip suffered significant reverses,
with voters switching to the Tories in a pattern which could provide a major
boost to Mrs May as she hopes to strengthen her grip on power next month. The
Liberal Democrats were having a mixed election, failing to breakthrough against
the Tories in the south-west England battleground.Labour was dealt a severe blow
in the south Wales valleys, with independents taking control of Blaenau Gwent
and Merthyr Tydfil - where the final three seats will be declared on June 8 with
Labour needing to win them all to regain a majority.In Bridgend - the stronghold
of First Minister and Welsh Labour leader Carwyn Jones - the party lost control
Mrs May had targeted Bridgend with a campaign visit in an effort to boost the
Tory presence in Wales.Things could get worse for Labour when counting begins in
Scotland, with experts forecasting heavy losses for Mr Corbyn’s party.Shadow
cabinet minister Barry Gardiner said it had been a “really disappointing night”
for Labour but he insisted there were local reasons for some of the losses.“In
Bridgend, Blaenau Gwent and Merthyr I think it’s right to say that most of the
problems we have had there - losing control where we were in control - were
through the splits within the Labour Party itself and the independents,” he told
BBC Radio 4. Former Ukip leadership contender Lisa Duffy insisted the results
had not been a “disaster” but acknowledged it was a “disappointing night so far,
especially in Lincolnshire and Essex”. She told the BBC: “As a party we will
learn from this, we will grow and we will move forward and we will continue to
be positive.” Lib Dem president Baroness Brinton said the picture was “a bit
patchy” for her party but “our areas of strength, we have done very well in, and
I think that does bode well for the General Election”.Tory minister Brandon
Lewis said Mrs May would “take the view that the results thus far are
encouraging but there are still a lot of councils to declare”.“We can’t assume
that what happens in local elections will automatically be replicated in general
elections,” he told the BBC. “There’s a long way to go, there’s a lot of work to
do, we have got to work for every vote out there to make sure that we return
Theresa May with a clear mandate on June 8.”In a sign of the problems facing
Labour in England, a campaign visit to Harlow by Mr Corbyn the week before the
vote failed to boost support in the Essex town, traditionally viewed as a
bellwether seat, with the Tories winning a clean sweep on their way to retaining
control in the county.Mr Corbyn’s party also lost ground in Cumbria.While the
county council remains under no overall control, the Conservatives replaced
Labour as the biggest party, with the Tories effectively taking 10 seats from
Labour.Among those to lose their council seats was Labour’s Gillian Troughton,
who suffered a historic loss in the Copeland by-election to Conservative Trudy
Harrison.
Ms Troughton is standing again to be Copeland’s MP at next month’s general
election and will hope to avoid a hat-trick of defeats.There was better news for
Labour in Doncaster, where Ros Jones was re-elected as mayor after taking more
than 50% of the vote in the first round.In Warwickshire, the Tories gained
control as Labour’s representation collapsed from 22 to 10, while in
Lincolnshire the Conservatives benefited from Ukip being wiped out.Although the
Lib Dems failed to prevent the Tories retaining Somerset, former Wells MP Tessa
Munt defeated the Conservative council leader while in Eastleigh in Hampshire
ex-MP Mike Thornton secured one of three gains from Ukip.In the contests for new
metro-mayors, Conservative Tim Bowles defeated Labour’s Lesley Mansell in the
run-off for the West of England post, covering Bristol and Bath.After the
redistribution of votes from candidates eliminated in the first round, Mr Bowles
had 70,300 votes to Ms Mansell’s 65,923.Later today former Labour cabinet
minister Andy Burnham hopes to begin life after Westminster by winning in
Greater Manchester.He is regarded as the favourite in the contest which will
result in new decision-making and spending powers being in the hands of the
winner.A far more intriguing result is expected in the West Midlands, where two
million people across Birmingham, Coventry, Sandwell, Dudley, Solihull, Walsall,
and Wolverhampton will be eligible to cast a vote for the region’s first
directly-elected metropolitan mayor.Former John Lewis boss Andy Street is
running for the Conservatives while Sion Simon hopes to secure the role for
Labour.