Hm. Depends on who you ask, apparently...
Backlash costs Labour 700 seats
society.guardian.co.uk
Simon Parker
Friday May 2, 2003
Labour lost well over 700 seats in England in last night's local elections, smashing even the gloomiest of predictions, as leftwingers claimed voters were punishing the party for its support of the war in Iraq.
The party lost control of at least 29 councils including Brighton and Birmingham - the country's biggest local authority and a Labour stronghold for nigh on two decades.
Early calculations suggest that turnout was just 30% overall, low even by the often dismal standards of local elections, although experiments with all-postal voting look likely to significantly increase that figure in some parts of the country.
Labour councillors regained power in Sheffield, Plymouth and Oldham, but that has not stopped the results being seen by leftwingers as a sign that their party has lost touch with young people and the Muslim community in the Midlands.
At the other end of the political spectrum, the small far-right British National party marched to victory in 11 new seats, doubling its number of councillors and taking five new seats in Burnley alone.
But fears that the party would gain a rash of seats across the north and perhaps even hold the balance of power in several councils failed to materialise as the BNP's leader, Nick Griffin, failed to win a seat in Oldham.
However, it was the Tories who claimed both victory and the title of largest party in English local government last night. With total gains of more than 500 seats, the party smashed the expectations of analysts who had predicted less than half that figure.
The gains, which include control of Guildford and Worcester, will provide some comfort to Iain Duncan Smith, whose position at the top of the party is likely to be cemented by the results.
A Conservative spokesman said: "These elections were decided by local people on local issues, but the national picture is much the same - Labour are failing to provide people with the services they need and deserve, and are making them pay higher and higher taxes."
However, there was bad news for the party yesterday when Crispin Blunt, its trade and industry spokesman, quit the frontbench in protest at the direction of the leadership.
The Liberal Democrats, expected by many to make a breakthrough in this election, had a disappointing night. The party made just 166 gains and won control of three councils.
The Campaign Group, representing leftwing Labour MPs, was quick to accuse Blairism of alienating two key groups. "Young people and the Muslim community feel that their voice was completely ignored by the government when they came out in their millions to protest against the war on Iraq. Now they are returning the compliment and deserting Labour at the polls," it said.
Last night's results defied the predictions of Britain's pre-eminent local elections analysts, Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher of the University of Plymouth.
They argued that Labour losses would be 500 at worst and that the Tories would gain no more than 200 councils. |
