Sunak fails his first test at the polls after Labor’s victory in local elections

Rishi Sunak he fails his first exam before the polls. He Labor Party British advances ground in England regarding the conservativesaccording to the first results of the partial local elections held on Thursday, in which about 70% of the English electorate was called to vote.

Labor gets 67 councillors, four more that until now, in front of 25 conservatives, Ten lesswhen just over a hundred of the 8,000 seats at stake in local authorities in England have been decided.

The first opposition party in the United Kingdom also maintains control in the cities of sunderlands and Newcastle-upon-Tynewhile the tories retain Harlow and broxbourne.

at the start of a count that will lengthen until Friday afternoon there was optimism among Labor.

“I am confident that we are going to see progress in the key areas where we need to make progress ahead of the next general election,” Labour’s Education spokeswoman told the BBC. bridget phillipson.

[Sunak remodela su Gobierno con 4 nuevos ministerios y nombra a Greg Hands presidente ‘tory’]

A spokesman for the conservatives, on the other hand, anticipated a “difficult night” for his party, and the minister tory for Northern Ireland, Chris Heaton-Harrisadmitted that previous surveys suggest that his formation will lose “fantastic councilors” in these elections.

Heaton-Harris stressed that the conservatives could lose up to 1,000 councilors in an election in which they are at stake more than 8,000 councilors in 230 local authorities in England.

The earliest results also anticipated a positive outcome for the Liberal Democrat Partywhich obtained 27 councilors, seven more than up to now.

Test for Sunak

These local elections are the largest appointment with the polls in the United Kingdom before the following generals, which must be held before January 2025, and are also the first elections with the conservative Rishi Sunak as prime minister, a position he assumed in October following the resignations of Liz Trussthat same month, and Boris Johnsonwho left power in September.

The elections were also the first time that voters were required to show an identification document with a photograph, a controversial measure criticized by the Labor opposition and various pressure groups, who believe that it makes participation difficult, especially among disadvantaged social sectors.

The Electoral Commission affirmed that the day “worked well”, but warned that “some people unfortunately were not able to vote” as a result of the requirement to show identification.

“It will be essential to understand the magnitude of the impact and its reasons before we can take a final opinion on how the measure has worked in practice,” the electoral body detailed.