Labour suffer local election battering
- 00:01:38
- ITN
Labour suffer local election battering
Labour has suffered heavy losses in the local elections, with early predictions suggesting it could be their worst performance since the 1960s.With results in from 98 councils in England and Wales, media reports have put Labour's projected national vote share at just 24 per cent.That would mean they are trailing by 20 per cent points behind David Cameron's Conservatives on 44 per cent and beaten into third place by the Liberal Democrats on 25 per cent.The margin was similar to the drubbing received by John Major in council elections in 1995, two years before he was ejected from Downing Street by Tony Blair.Overall, councils declaring overnight saw Labour lose 143 councillors and Conservatives gain 139, while Liberal Democrats were up 12.With around 50 councils still counting ballots, Labour's total deficit could hit 250 or even 300 before Prime Minister Gordon Brown's suffering is complete.And Tories are hoping to cap their council successes with victory for Boris Johnson in the London mayoral battle with Ken Livingstone, due to be declared later.Analysis suggested that the Tories would enjoy a landslide Commons majority of between 138 and 164 seats if the results were repeated in a General Election.Watching events unfold at Tory HQ, Mr Cameron told his Webcameron website the night was going "very well" for the party, seizing control of Bury in Labour's northern heartlands and a surprise gain in Southampton, which is one of the few Southern cities where Labour still has MPs.Conservative local government spokesman Eric Pickles said the Tory successes meant Mr Brown would not risk calling a General Election until the last possible date in 2010.Labour MPs pointed the finger of blame for last night's results at the state of the economy and Mr Brown's decision to scrap the 10p rate of income tax, which hit millions of workers' pay packets in the weeks before the elections.Ed Miliband, one of Mr Brown's key lieutenants, admitted the 10p issue had made the campaign "difficult" and the chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party, Tony Lloyd, said it had hurt Labour on the doorstep.Mr Lloyd said the electorate had sent a "very clear signal" to Labour in a "referendum on where the Government stands".Cabinet Minister John Denham, MP for Southampton Itchen, said Labour must listen to the concerns of voters in the South of England to restore its fortunes."(If) we go from here, show the voters that we have been listening to the things they are genuinely concerned about, show that we can address them here in the South, then we can and will win the next General Election," he said.There were calls from the left of the party for a shift in direction, with Norwich North MP Ian Gibson urging the Prime Minister to offer railway renationalisation, union rights for agency workers and a more generous minimum wage to restore the confidence of traditional Labour voters.Conservatives won Nuneaton & Bedworth in Warwickshire from Labour and West Lindsey in Lincolnshire from the Lib Dems, while also seizing Elmbridge in Surrey, Harlow in Essex, Maidstone in Kent and Wyre Forest in Worcestershire from no overall control.Labour lost control of Merthyr Tydfil in south Wales to independents in an election heavily influenced by a local row over a large open-cast mine, opposed by many residents.Liberal Democrats salvaged their flagship council Liverpool through a last-minute deal with Independent councillor Nadia Stewart, who joined the party to give it a wafer-thin absolute majority after it appeared to have lost overall control.The party also reasserted its grip on former Labour stronghold Hull, which it first won last year only to see the city slip from its hands due to defections, and gained St Albans from no overall control.Nick Clegg's party fell slightly short of its performance in 2004, when it was buoyed by opposition to the Iraq War.Greens were celebrating in Norwich, where they beat Lib Dems to become the main opposition grouping on a council for the first time in their history - just two seats behind Labour.And the far-right British National Party gained eight seats - two each in Rotherham, Nuneaton & Bedworth and Amber Valley and one in Pendle and Thurrock.
ITN | May 2, 2008
