Theresa May set to lose 800 councillors in local election meltdown as furious voters desert Tories over Brexit
Pollster Rob Hayward warned the PM is on course for a terrible performance on Thursday
THERESA May will this week lose 800 councillors in the biggest local election drubbing for the Tories since 1995, a polling guru claims.
New forecasts today predicted a "Brexit bloodbath" for the Government on Thursday with voters expected to vent their fury at the chaos in No.10 over Britain’s EU divorce.
Pollster Rob Hayward said the Tories could lose one in five councillors on May 2 in the worst night for a Tory government since the dying days of John Major’s time in Downing Street.
He told The Sun: “There’s no question that Brexit is the key factor here.
“If Mrs May’s deal or anything like it had been approved the Tories would have fared markedly better than they are likely to.”
The peer – who famously coined the phrase “Shy Tories” about voters in the early 90s – said Labour would only pick up less than 300 wins.
The Lib Dems could emerge as the biggest winners - picking up 500 seats.
Tory MPs tonight said a disastrous showing would intensify calls for the PM to quit after a near-mutiny from powerful backbenchers last week.
One, Nigel Evans, said: “A loss of this magnitude would be devastating.”
Backbench kingpin Sir Graham Brady is expected to ask Theresa May to be clearer on her departure date in talks this week.
'DIFFICULT NIGHT'
Lord Hayward’s prediction came just hours after a separate pollster – Professor Michael Thrasher – said the Tories could lose anywhere between 400 to 1,100 seats. Meanwhile, a YouGov poll for the European Elections on May 23 put the Conservatives on just THIRTEEN per cent.
The poll put Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party – who aren’t standing in Thursday’s local elections – are on 28 per cent.
Tory high command has urged Downing Street to stop talking about Brexit in the run up to Thursday because the issue is so toxic on the doorstep.
Conservative deputy chair Helen Whately admitted that Thursday would be a “difficult night for us”. And she said the frustration over Brexit was causing “a lot of anger” on the doorstep.
“It’s a chance to kick the Government,” she conceded.
Some 8,425 seats in 248 councils across England are up for grabs on Thursday. The seats were last contested in 2015, when the Tories took 4,906 and control of 140 local authorities.
MOST READ IN POLITICS
Tory chair Brandon Lewis said the party was still hoping to get a Brexit deal through Parliament so the European Elections wouldn’t have to take place later this month. He said: “I don’t deny the frustration people in our party have over where we are on Brexit.
“I share that frustration, I want to get this done so we don’t fight those European Elections.”
But in a sign of the chaos in Tory ranks, Mr Lewis said he couldn’t guarantee Tory MPs wouldn’t vote for Nigel Farage’s party on May 23.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online politics team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours