Sir Keir Starmer was celebrating wins in key battlegrounds as an indication Labour is on course to win the next general election, as Rishi Sunak remained defiant despite heavy losses.
The Prime Minister was under pressure as the local election results being declared on Friday showed both Labour and the Lib Dems seizing control of Tory councils across England.
The Labour leader said the “fantastic” results combined with a hoped-for recovery in Scotland would give him a majority in Westminster after a national poll.
With nearly half of authorities having declared, the Conservatives had lost 23 local authorities and more than 360 councillors.
Sir Keir’s party was projected to have won a nine-point lead over the Conservatives if all of Britain had gone to the polls, as the Tories slid backwards.
Labour seized councils in Tory MPs’ seats that would be hotly contested at a general election, including in Swindon, Medway and East Staffordshire.
Mr Sunak conceded the results were “disappointing” but said he was “not detecting any massive groundswell of movement towards the Labour Party or excitement for its agenda”.
But the Tories will be concerned by Labour wins in the North, South and Midlands and a resurgent Lib Dems, as the prospect of a general election in 2024 looms.
Vote share analysis by the BBC put Labour on 35 per cent, the Tories on 26 per cent and the Lib Dems on 20 per cent. That was the same for Labour last year, but the Conservatives had sunk from 30 per cent.
A day of celebration for Sir Keir started with a visit to Medway, where he welcomed “fantastic results across the country” in “places we need to win”, citing victories in Plymouth, Stoke and Middlesbrough, where his party won the mayoralty.
“Make no mistake, we are on course for a Labour majority at the next general election,” Sir Keir said.
“We’ve changed our party. We’ve won the trust, the confidence of voters, and now we can go on to change our country. Change is possible. A better Britain is possible.”
His party will run the Kent authority for the first time since 1998, with the outgoing Conservative council leader telling No 10 to “get their act together” on several fronts.
Both Swindon in Wiltshire and Erewash Council in Derbyshire had been controlled by the Conservatives for 20 years until the results of Thursday’s local elections.
North Swindon Tory MP Justin Tomlinson said the Conservatives had to take the “dreadful” results as a “wake-up call”.
The Lib Dems won Windsor & Maidenhead from the Conservatives and hope to have taken Stratford-on-Avon.
In central London, Mr Sunak was understood to have thanked staff for their efforts, and said the results were always going to be tough but that the state of play has improved since he took over six months ago after the leaderships of Boris Johnson and Liz Truss.
The Prime Minister told broadcasters it was “hard to draw firm conclusions” from the initial results.
“It’s always disappointing to lose hardworking Conservative councillors, they’re friends, they’re colleagues and I’m so grateful to them for everything they’ve done,” he said.
“But in terms of the results, it’s still early. We’ve just had a quarter of the results in, but what I am going to carry on doing is delivering on the people’s priorities.”
Mr Sunak cited his priorities as halving inflation, growing the economy, reducing debt, cutting NHS waiting lists and “stopping the boats”, adding: “That’s what people want us to do. That’s what I’m going to keep hard at doing.”
The Prime Minister said the Tories are “making progress in key electoral battlegrounds like Peterborough, Bassetlaw, Sandwell”.
The inroads for the Tories are debatable. In Sandwell, they have gained two of 24 seats, while Labour has gained four and held 18 more.
In Hertsmere, where Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden is MP, the Tories have lost control of the council, with 13 councillors voted out, while Labour has gained seven and the Lib Dems six.
The Conservatives lost control of Welwyn Hatfield, represented in Parliament by Energy Secretary Grant Shapps, where both the Lib Dems and Labour made gains.
The Tories also lost overall control in North West Leicestershire, Brentwood, East Lindsey and Hertsmere, as Labour won Blackpool.
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