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FIGHTING TALK
Defiant Boris Johnson shrugs off ‘tough night’ of election losses but celebrates Red Wall triumph after Starmer flops
DEFIANT Boris Johnson today shrugged off a bruising set of local elections that saw Tory support melt away in London and the South.
While admitting it had been a "tough night" at the polls, the bullish PM hailed victories in the Red Wall and vowed to fight on.
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Angry local Tories let rip at their embattled leader after Labour pulled off a major upset to capture Wandsworth and Westminster.
Both had been flagship Conservative councils for the last half century and were cherished as the party's crown jewels in London.
The Conservatives had lost 225 council seats by the time around half of the results had been declared by midday today.
Labour had gained a modest 43, the Lib Dems had gained 124, and the Greens 41.
Despite the totemic defeats in the capital Tory chiefs insisted they were not enduring the nationwide collapse they had feared.
The polls were the first chance angry Brits could kick the Government at the ballot box since the cost of living crisis and Partygate.
The PM said he "of course" shouldered responsibility for the losses but added: "It is mid-term. It's certainly a mixed set of results."
And he hailed "remarkable gains in places that haven't voted Conservative for a long time" after winning skirmishes in northern battlegrounds.
Sir Keir Starmer - battling his own Beergate storm - failed to woo back Red Wall voters who deserted the party under Jeremy Corbyn.
He continued to flop in Labour's historic working-class heartlands like Hartlepool - and went backwards in Sunderland and Salford.
The Labour leader also watched the party's prized Kingston-upon-Hull Council fall to the Lib Dems, who made gains.
Polling guru Sir John Curtice said the results would be "disappointing" for Sir Keir and are not a springboard to propel him into Downing St.
In key developments:
- Allies rallied round the PM this morning as bad results flooded in
- Defeated local Tories blamed Mr Johnson's leadership for their losses
- Labour's overall vote share went down outside of London
- Sir Keir failed to make gains in battlegrounds like Peterborough, Amber Valley and Bolton
- The Lib Dems were in high spirits after making the most gains so far - including the new Somerset Council
- Bristol voted to scrap its elected city mayor in a referendum
- Counting will continue in England, Scotland and Wales throughout the day
- Northern Ireland was also set to elect a new assembly
Wandsworth - famously Margaret Thatcher's "favourite" council - has been Tory-controlled since 1978 and Westminster since its creation in 1964.
Losing the two crown jewel boroughs is a totemic hit to Mr Johnson, a previous mayor of London.
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After conceding defeat this morning, Wandsworth's Tory leader said the PM had been an "issue" on the doorstep during the campaign.
Ravi Govindia said: "Let's not be coy about it, of course national issues were part of the dilemma people were facing."
Barnet in North London was also recaptured by Labour in a triple-whammy Tory blow in the capital.
The Tories are on course to lose between 200 to 300 seats after Labour and the Lib Dems chipped away at the southern Blue Wall.
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Southampton flipped from blue to red and the Conservatives also lost control of Worcester and West Oxfordshire council.
Despite the gloomy picture around London and the south, senior Tories took comfort their support appeared to be holding up in the Red Wall.
Policing minister Kit Malthouse told the BBC: "The further away you get from London, our sense is that the picture is better for us."
The Tories remained the largest party in the bellwether area of Bolton after an ultra-tight race in the North West town.
Conservatives also strengthened their grip on Hartlepool, building on last year's seismic by-election win deep in Red Wall territory.
Election experts said Labour's failure to win back serious support in their traditional northern heartlands should worry Sir Keir.
Pollster James Johnson said the party's results fell far short of the local election sweep won by Tony Blair two years before his 1997 landslide.
A Tory source added: "They have gone backwards in places like Sunderland, Tyneside, Hartlepool, Nuneaton, Sandwell and Amber Valley, showing they are seriously underperforming in former Labour heartlands which they need to regain."
Putting on a brave face to supporters this morning, Sir Keir said: "That change these last two years has been really hard for us as a party.
"But we've done it, we've built those solid foundations, we've won here in Barnet, we've won across London, we're winning from coast to coast."
ALLIES RALLY
The PM is expected to address his party faithful soon.
Ahead of an expected drubbing Tory rebels had been sharpening their knives for Mr Johnson, who avoided a leadership contest at the height of the Partygate storm.
BoJo's allies feared a thumping in the local polls would trigger more letters of no confidence to be submitted.
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Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis this morning warned against a coup, insisting: "I absolutely think we can win the next election, and I do think Boris Johnson is the right person to lead us into that."
Tory Chair Oliver Dowden piled in: "I believe that Boris Johnson does have the leadership skills, in particular the energy and the dynamism that we need during this difficult period of time."
But some Tory MPs did break ranks to put the PM on notice he has to up his game.
London MP Stephen Hammond said Mr Johnson must "prove his integrity" once again to voters.
Tory MP David Simmonds said it is "very, very clear" that people are concerned about the Prime Minister's "personal conduct".
NATIONAL PICTURE
In England, a whopping 4,360 seats on 146 councils are up for grabs as well as a handful of mayoral elections.
Councillors run your local services including bin collections and public spaces - but crucially also decide the amount of council tax you pay.
The polls are also a chance for voters to cast judgement on the state of the parties in Westminster and the race for No10.
Mr Johnson and Sir Keir went into the election doing battle primarily on the cost of living crisis.
ANALYSIS: BORIS ESCAPES WITH BLOODY NOSE RATHER THAN FATAL BLOW
On the surface local elections decide the councillors who run the public services in your area.
How often your bins are collected, how clean your streets are, and how much council tax you pay could all now change following today's results.
But for millions they are also a chance to praise or punish the national parties in Westminster.
While performing well during the Ukraine war, Boris Johnson went into the elections dogged by criticism of the cost of living and Partygate.
Today he has escaped with a bloody nose rather than a fatal blow.
Tory chiefs were braced for a drubbing - and that's exactly what they got in large parts of the country.
Defeats in former London strongholds and across their southern heartlands will send alarm bells ringing in Downing Street.
Yet governing parties always do worse in mid-term elections as opposition rivals gobble up the ocean of protest votes.
Sir Keir Starmer will spend the day holding up his Tory scalps, but will be quietly fearing for his own political neck after a damp display.
He has failed to claw back Labour's traditional supporters in the Red Wall which crumbled under Jeremy Corbyn.
And his modest gains elsewhere pale in comparison to the sweep of seats taken by Tony Blair two years before his famous 1997 landslide.
For all the woes currently besetting Boris, Sir Keir has not managed to light a fire in the belly of voters.
Jack Elsom, Political Reporter
Voters cast their ballots yesterday on the same day the Bank of England raised interest rates and warned of a looming recession.
The leaders have also been locked in a row over rule-breaking lockdown parties, for which Mr Johnson has been fined by the Met.
Sir Keir also faces his own accusations of a lockdown-busting curry and beer night in Durham last year.
Boris and Sir Keir were up early on Thursday to rally supporters to back their party at the ballot box.
And their armies of activists were out hammering on doors at the crack of dawn in a last-gasp heave to rake in every possible vote.
Meanwhile in Northern Ireland, voters will choose the make-up of the next Stormont assembly as they need to fill 90 seats.
Polling predicts Sinn Fein - the nationalists who want a united Ireland and have historic links to the IRA - to win the most seats.
It would mean there could be a Sinn Fein first minister for the first time in history.
But under peace-keeping power-sharing arrangements the leader of the second largest party - which will be a unionist - will be their deputy.
In Scotland, all 32 councils are being contested while 22 Welsh local authorities are also having their fate sealed at the ballot box.
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It is the first election in Wales where 16 and 17-year-olds have the right to vote - meaning 70,000 teenagers are eligible to go to the polling station,
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In Scotland, over-16s can vote, but in England the minimum age is 18.
Polls closed at 10pm but first results are are not expected to be until around 2am.
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