Labour takes a hammering in local elections – including loss of Glasgow Council for first time in FORTY years – as Tories head for their best results in a decade
JEREMY CORBYN still had a smile on his face this morning despite losing almost 150 council seats as the Tories remain on track to record their best local results in a decade.
In what could be a taste of things to come in next month's General Election, Labour faced drastic losses and the Conservatives made huge gains across Britain.
And Ukip is facing a total wipeout as the party has held just ONE seat so far in an embarrassing night for leader Paul Nuttall.
So far Ukip has just won a single council seat as voters flock back to the Conservatives. That puts them on the same number as the Rubbish Party - who won a seat in Scotland.
The picture is the same north of the border in Scotland too - as Labour LOST control of Glasgow council - for the first time in 40 years.
The Lib Dem comeback appears to have failed to materialise too - as they too have lost seats.
Some councils in England and Wales counted the ballots overnight but others - including all authorities in Scotland - only started this morning.
But already it's looking positive for the Tories as they take seats in Labour areas such as Fife and Paisley.
As the results come rolling in across Britain today, the Conservatives have made a strong start by gaining control of SEVEN councils and retaining a number of others.
Labour has lost scores of seats including control of three councils, and failed to hold onto heartlands like Bridgend.
The projected national share puts the Tories on 38 per cent, Labour on 27 per cent, the Lib Dems on 18 per cent Ukip on just five per cent.
But Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell insisted this morning that the loss of over 120 seats so far was because of how "the media have covered him".
He told Sky News: "We are picking up support. As Jeremy gets more media time, people are seeing the real character of the man… This decent, honest, strong leader with principles.
"You will see this whole campaign begin to turn the tide," he vowed.
And he told Radio 4: "It hasn't been the wipeout that some people predicted or the polls predicted. It is much better."
However, Labour MPs are already beginning to lash out.
Stephen Kinnock - the son of former leader Neil Kinnock - laid into his party today and said it was "simply not good enough" to not be picking up seats.
He said: "We can’t just put a spin on this - the fact of the matter is that Jeremy’s leadership does come up on the doorstep on a very regular basis. What we have to do is make this election about more than leadership, we’ve got to make it about the future of our country."
But Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon said his party had scooped up votes from former Labour supporters who were "clearly dissatisfied with Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership".
Despite the "encouraging" wins for the blues, he warned there is "still a lot of work to do" before the General Election - in a sign the Tories don't want to be complacent of a win.
Former leader Iain Duncan Smith told Sky it was a "good, solid night for the Conservatives, but it doesn't bode anything for the General Election."
What are the parties saying?
Ukip's Lisa Duffy: "We are still relevant... I won’t use the word disaster, I use the word challenging.”
Labour’s Barry Gardiner: "Disappointing night in Bridgend... Most of the problems have come from splits in the Labour Party itself."
Conservatives' Brandon Lewis: "The results so far are encouraging but we cannot assume what happens in local elections will be replicated in the general election."
Lib Dems' Baroness Sal Brinton: "[Our vote has been] Patchy in places... but our share of the vote is up."
Just 34 days before the nation goes to the polls in June's snap vote, the Conservatives won control of five councils and retained a number of others they already held.
And the Tories' Tim Bowles won the new Metro Mayor seat of the West of England - which is set to be the first in a string of victories. He beat the Labour candidate by around 5,000 votes.
He said he was "very, very humbled and excited" to have been elected.
There was some good news for Jeremy Corbyn's party as the Doncaster mayor Ros Jones has held onto the position, with her vote share up.
And Corbyn's pal Steve Rotherham won the Liverpool mayoralty.
Ukip's losses so far include all of their seats in Essex, Hampshire and Lincolnshire.
The results are a huge blow to leader Paul Nuttall, who is bidding to win a Westminster seat on June 8 by contesting Boston and Skegness.
He said this morning that the party were "victims of our own success" - but losing seats was a price he was "willing to pay" for quitting the EU.
Former Ukip MP Douglas Carswell said it was "over" for Ukip and he was "absolutely delighted" by today's gains for the Tories.
Ukip deputy chairwoman Suzanne Evans acknowledged the party faces a "difficult dilemma" but that if it weren't for them, Brexit would never have happened.
She said: "We do have a duty now to reform, because what concerns me is that there is still a desperate need for a sensible third party in British politics.
"It looks like we are heading for a Conservative landslide and ... one-party states are not much fun."
Polls expert Professor John Curtice told the BBC that there was a swing from Labour to the Tories of around seven percentage points, and Ukip were down 16 percentage points.
And MEP Steven Woolfe – who quit Ukip following a bust up with a party colleague that left him in hospital – said he would back the Tories in the General Election.
Asked if he would vote for Mr Nuttall or Mrs May, the MEP told BBC 5 Live: “I’ve got no choice – it would have to be Theresa May.
“The darker forces within Ukip … have managed to rise … and that just won’t work in the United Kingdom.”
The Tories gained Councils in Warwickshire, Lincolnshire, Lancashire, Derbyshire, the Isle of Wight, Gloucestershire and Monmouthshire, and also retained control of Essex, Somerset, Hampshire and Dorset.
And they just missed out on an overall majority in Northumberland - the Tories gained 33 of 67 seats but tied with the Lib Dems in South Blythe. They then lost out during a bizarre drawing of STRAWS.
Labour lost ground in Cumbria when the Conservatives replaced them as the biggest party.
So far the party have not won one council back off the Tories, but have managed to hold on to Newport, Neath Port Talbot and Swansea.
In Scotland Labour lost Glasgow and West Dunbartonshire councils.
Jonathan Carr-West, Chief Executive of the Local Government Information Unit said: "The Conservatives are tightening what was already a very firm grip on shire England.
"Labour, the Liberal Democrats and, especially, UKIP have all had bad nights."
Ousted chairman of Warwickshire County Council's Labour group, Philip Johnson, told Radio 4 that it was the leader who was putting off voters.
He said: "People have been saying to us that Jeremy Corbyn's style has been putting them off voting Labour.
"It's not the policies. When the policies are explained they do receive a degree of support.
"But Jeremy Corbyn isn't coming across well with the public. I think that's fairly well known."
And Brendan Toomey, who was leader of Merthyr Tydfil council, lost his seat in the Labour heartland.
"It's the birthplace of Labour, we are having a very disappointing evening to say the least," he admitted on BBC Radio 4.
How is the Labour party explaining their huge losses?
LABOUR's candidates are calling today's poor results a "mixed picture" where Conservative gains "failed to materalise".
A script leaked to the Guardian this morning said MPs would admit that the outcome was "disappointing" but that the party had "done better than people were predicting".
Figures will also emphasise the party's retention of Swansea, Cardiff and Newport councils.
“Some of the predictions of doom and gloom across the board aren’t quite panning out as some thought,” the script said. “There are some disappointing results but there are good ones too such as holding on to the councils in Neath Port Talbot and Newport.”
And it will argue that the environment is "challenging" - but that the collapse of Ukip had left the "door open to Conservative gains".
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Which Councils were won by the Tories and Labour?
Conservative gains:
- Warwickshire (previously no overall control)
- Lincolnshire (previously no overall control)
- Gloucestershire (previously no overall control)
- Isle of Wight (previously no overall control)
- Monmouthshire (previously no overall control) - but more elections are to come next month
Conservative holds:
- Essex
- Dorset
- Hampshire
- Somerset
Labour holds:
- Newport
- Neath Port Talbot
- Swansea
- Cardiff
Labour losses:
- Merthyr Tydfil (to no overall control) - but will win it back if it wins all 3 postponed seats next month
- Blaenau Gwent (to Independents)
- Bridgend (to no overall control)
Among those to lose their council seats was Labour's Gillian Troughton, who suffered a historic loss in a recent by-election in Copeland to Conservative candidate Trudy Harrison.
Ms Troughton is standing again to be Copeland's MP at next month's general election.
Polls closed at 10pm last night across Great Britain as Labour braced itself for a forecast drubbing in its former northern heartlands.
Votes have been cast in elections to 88 councils in England, Scotland and Wales, plus mayoral contests which include six new devolved super-regions.
The results will be closely studied by Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn in a major potential indicator of how swing seats may fall in the General Election on June 8.
The PM rang voters in Birmingham last night from a Tory phone bank to support Andy Street, the Conservative candidate hoping to win the ‘Metro Mayor’ election in the West Midlands, while Corbyn was snapped awkwardly pushing children in a park swing in Oxford.
In the mayoral contests, former Labour cabinet minister Andy Burnham will hope to begin life after Westminster by becoming Greater Manchester's first elected mayor.
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