UK Politics

A Conservative MP has raised doubts over Boris Johnson’s future after the party’s heavy local election losses, saying he was must “confront” the Partygate scandal.David Simmonds said public anger about the lawbreaking in No 10 was the “clear message” from voters, after Labour grabbed three flagship London boroughs from the Tories.“It was a pretty clear message on the doorstep. Clearly the prime minister has got some difficult questions to answer,” said the MP for Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner, on the northern edge of the capital.“Overwhelmingly, the message that I heard on the doorsteps was people were broadly positive about the government’s policies, but they are not happy about what they have been hearing about Partygate.”Mr Simmonds said Mr Johnson had promised to take “full responsibility for these election results”, telling BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think he needs to confront that question now.”The call came as Gavin Barwell, chief of staff to Theresa May, called the loss of Wandsworth and Westminster councils, as well as Barnet, a set of “catastrophic results”.“We held them during the Blair honeymoon. We held them during austerity. We held them under Theresa May. Losing them should be a wake-up call for the Conservative Party,” he tweeted.But Oliver Dowden, the Conservative party chair, played down the talk of major setbacks, as election experts suggested Labour has gone backwards in other parts of England.“We are mid-term and it’s quite a mixed picture because, you look elsewhere, whether that’s in Hartlepool or Nuneaton and Thurrock, we’ve actually made gains,” he argued.“I think, if you take the whole picture of this, it really doesn’t demonstrate that Labour has the momentum to form the next government.”Mr Dowden added: “This isn’t like what Tony Blair got in say ‘95, two years before his election victory – they were making 1,800 gains.“If you look at Ed Miliband [he} managed to make 800 gains in 2011 and still not win the election.”The early results offered little indication of the sort of collapse in Tory support that would trigger a no-confidence vote in Mr Johnson’s leadership.Many Conservative MPs have said they will wait to see if the prime minister receives more fines for lockdown-busting parties and the verdict of Sue Gray’s stalled Cabinet Office inquiry.But some leading Conservative figures in local government went public on their fears for their party’s future.John Mallinson, leader of Carlisle City Council, hit out after Labour took control of the new Cumberland authority which will replace it, said: “I think it is not just Partygate, there is the integrity issue.“Basically I just don’t feel people any longer have the confidence that the prime minister can be relied upon to tell the truth.”And Ravi Govindia, leader of the Wandsworth Tories, said: “Let’s not be coy about it, of course national issues were part of the dilemma people were facing.” More

Local Conservative leaders have turned their fire on Boris Johnson, as the party suffered historic losses in London, with one saying he would be a “poor option” to lead the party into the next general election.As the Tories lost flagship councils in the capital such as Wandsworth — held since 1978 — and Westminster, an authority in the party’s control since its creation in 1964, Theresa May’s former chief-of-staff also suggested the results were “catastrophic” and should be a “wake-up call”.With full results declared from 71 councils at 8am, the Conservatives had overall lost control of six authorities and suffered a net loss of 132 councillors, Labour had a net gain of four councils and 91 seats, the Lib Dems had gained a council and 40 councillors and the Greens had put on 22 councillors.Sir Keir Starmer hailed the results as a “turning point” for Labour, but the polling expert professor Sir John Curtice said the results left Labour with “an awful lot of work” to do outside the capital in “perhaps more Leave-voting England”.But as the blame game began, grassroots Tories cited the on-going Partygate scandal being cited on the doorstep, and the cost-of-living crisis.John Mallinson, the former Tory leader of Carlisle City Council hit out after Labour took control of the new Cumberland authority which will replace it, telling the BBC: “I think it’s not just Partygate, there is the integrity issue.”“Basically I just don’t feel any longer have the confidence that the prime minister can be relied upon to tell the truth,” he said.Mr Mallinson later suggested Mr Johnson would be a “poor option” to lead the Conservatives into the next general election, adding: “He does seem to be attracting a lot of unrest and ill-feeling at the moment”.He also criticised “patronising” comments from the cabinet minister George Eustice, who suggested in a televised interview this week that families struggling in the cost-of-living crisis should use “value brands” to save money.In Portsmouth, where the Tories lost four seats, Simon Bosher, the leader of the Conservative group, said the prime minister should “take a good, strong look in the mirror” because of the voter backlash on the doorstep.Ravi Govindia — the outgoing leader of Wandsworth council, an authority held by the Tories since 1978 — said: “Let’s not be coy about it, of course national issues were part of the dilemma people were facing.”Daniel Thomas, the ex-leader of Barnet council, where Labour clinched victory in the early hours of Friday morning, added the results should be a “warning shot” from his party’s supporters.“Clearly if Labour are to get a majority in Parliament they need to win Barnet,” he said.”They won the council, if they win our parliamentary constituencies as well, then it doesn’t bode well for us to form a Government in future general elections.”Barry Rawlings, the leader of the Barnet Labour group, suggested the result was less a reflection on enthusiasm for his party and more a reflection of disillusionment with Mr Johnson’s Conservatives.He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I’ll be honest, it’s not us being wonderful. I think a lot of Conservatives haven’t voted this time, I think they feel alienated from No 10 and that they are, I don’t know, they’ve been disappointed with Boris Johnson and so not voting and I think that’s made a difference as well.”Theresa May’s former chief-of-staff Lord Gavin Barwell also said the local elections results in London were “catastrophic” in London and should be a “wake-up-call” for the Conservative Party.“Wandsworth & Westminster were flagship councils” he said. “We held them during the Blair honeymoon. We held them during austerity. We held them under Theresa May.”Former Tory cabinet minister Justine Greening, who left Parliament in 2019, added: “I think the challenge for the Conservatives is really to understand that levelling up isn’t just for the North. “There are people in this capital, who feel life isn’t fair, opportunities aren’t fair. So Boris Johnson really needs to learn from these results and see that he has to have a national agenda on levelling up not just one for the Midlands and the North.”While admitting the results were “difficult” for the Conservatives, the party chair, Oliver Dowden, put losses at the local elections down to mid-term challenges and insisted Mr Johnson was the right person to lead the party into the next general election.He told Sky News: “I think looking at the picture of the results so far, they demonstrate that whilst there have been difficult results, they are consistent with what you’d expect with us from mid-term.“Labour are certainly not on the path to power and I believe that Boris Johnson does have the leadership skills, in particular the energy and the dynamism that we need during this difficult period of time.“So no, I don’t think we should remove Boris Johnson as our prime minister, I think we should stick with him”. More

Labour has pulled off a historic victory in the Tory council of Westminster — a seat held by the Conservatives since its creation in 1964.It came just hours after Tories lost the “crown jewel” of Wandsworth, which Labour last held 44 years ago in 1978, in a major blow to Boris Johnson.Strengthening its grip on the capital, Labour also clinched victory in Barnet after the Tory council leader conceded defeat, saying the loss was a “warning shot” for the government.He added the result did not “bode well” for the Conservatives at the next general election, as the Partygate scandal and the cost of living crisis impacts on the party’s vote share.Jonathan Carr-West, the chief executive of the Local Government information Unit (LGiU), said with around half of the councils declared the “most dramatic” were in the capital.He said Labour taking control of Barnet, Wandsworth and Westminster council “has huge symbolic value and losing all three of these councils in a single election will be a big blow to the Conservative morale”.Mr Carr-West added: “At the same time, it’s part of a longer term trend in which Labour has tightened its grip on inner London.“Over the last decade, we have seen an increasing polarisation with the Labour vote concentrated in large cities and university towns and Conservative support spread across the rest of the country. In that respect, Conservative losses in Southampton or West Oxfordshire might be more telling indicators.”After full results were declared from 67 councils, the Tories had lost control of four authorities and suffered a net loss of 90 seats, Labour had a net gain of two councils and 57 councillors, the Lib Dems had gained a council and 37 seats while the Greens had put on 20 councillors.As dozens of Tory councillors lost their seats against the backdrop of the cost-of-living crisis and the Partygate scandal, other local Conservative leaders also criticised the prime minister.John Mallinson, leader of Carlisle City Council hit out after Labour took control of the new Cumberland authority which will replace it.He told the BBC: “I think it is not just partygate, there is the integrity issue.“Basically I just don’t feel people any longer have the confidence that the Prime Minister can be relied upon to tell the truth.”In Portsmouth, where the Tories lost four seats, Simon Bosher the leader of the Conservative group said Mr Johnson should “take a good, strong look in the mirror” because “those are people that are actually bearing the brunt on the doorstep of behaviour of what’s been going on in Westminster”.Ravi Govindia, the outgoing leader of the Wandsworth Tories, said: “Let’s not be coy about it, of course national issues were part of the dilemma people were facing.” More

Britain’s governing Conservatives suffered losses in their few London strongholds in local elections, according to results announced Friday that will pile more pressure on Prime Minister Boris Johnson amid ethics scandals and a worsening economic picture.The vote for more than 200 local councils decides who collects garbage and fills potholes across the country, and is also seen as an important barometer of public opinion ahead of the next national election, which must be held by 2024.The main opposition Labour Party, which has been out of power nationally since 2010, won control of Wandsworth, Barnet and Westminster, three London boroughs long held by the Conservatives.With results from about half of England announced Friday morning, Labour had not made big gains outside of the capital, especially in working-class northern England — areas that Johnson successfully wooed in the 2019 general election.Conservative Party chairman Oliver Dowden acknowledged the results in London were “difficult” but said the “more mixed picture” elsewhere showed Labour did not have the momentum to win the next general election.Labour’s national campaign coordinator, Shabana Mahmood, argued that the results showed Labour was building a solid foundation to get back to power.“Labour is making headway … taking over key Conservative councils and winning in vital Parliamentary battlegrounds across the country,” she said.Results are still to come from the rest of England, and all of Scotland and Wales. In Northern Ireland, voters are electing a new 90-seat Assembly, with polls suggesting the Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein could win the largest number of seats, and the post of first minister, in what would be a historic first.The election campaign was dominated by increasing prices for food and fuel, which have sent household bills soaring.Opposition parties are demanding the government do more to ease the cost-of-living crunch — driven by the war in Ukraine, COVID-19 pandemic disruption and economic aftershocks from Britain’s exit from the European Union. Both left-of-center Labour and the centrist Liberal Democrats advocate a windfall tax on energy companies, which have reported record profits amid rocketing oil and gas prices.Johnson’s Conservative government argues taxing big firms like Shell and BP would deter much-needed investment in renewable energy that’s key to meeting Britain’s climate commitments.The election also comes after months of turmoil for Johnson, in which he became the first prime minister to be sanctioned for breaking the law in office. He was fined 50 pounds ($62) by police for attending his own surprise birthday party in June 2020 when lockdown rules barred social gatherings.Johnson has apologized, but denies knowingly breaking the rules. He faces the possibility of more fines over other parties — police are investigating a dozen gatherings —and a parliamentary investigation into whether he misled lawmakers about his behavior.The prime minister also faces discontent within his own party. A bad result could lead Conservatives to try to replace Johnson with a less tarnished leader.Dowden, the party chairman, acknowledged there had been “challenging headlines for the past few months.”“But I do think that set against all of that, those sort of challenges that you would expect after 12 years in office, these are challenging results, but we have made progress in lots of places,” he told Sky News.“Labour are certainly not on the path to power and I believe that Boris Johnson does have the leadership skills, in particular the energy and the dynamism that we need during this difficult period of time.” More

Labour has won the flagship Tory council of Wandsworth in London for the first time since 1978, as results of the local election began trickling in.The seat first switched to the Conservatives a year before Margaret Thatcher’s election as prime minister and was reputedly her favourite council, renowned for its low taxes.As the result became clear, a Labour source said: “Boris Johnson losing Wandsworth is monumental. This was the Tories’ jewel in the crown.”“Voters in Wandsworth have put their trust in the change Keir Starmer’s Labour represents,” they added.The outgoing Conservative leader of Wandsworth Council, Ravi Govindia, said: “Let’s not be coy about it, of course national issues were part of the dilemma people were facing”.He also told the BBC that “other events have clouded the judgement of people in Wandsworth… consistently on the doorstep the issue of Boris Johnson was raised”.Just moments after the loss of Wandsworth, the Conservative leader of Barnet council, Daniel Thomas, conceded his party had also lost control of the council for the first time since 2002, saying it was a “warning shot” to the government. After results were declared from 58 councils, the Tories had lost control of three authorities and were down 79 councillors, Labour had a net gain of two councils and 34 councillors, the Lib Dems had one extra authority and 34 more seats while the Greens had put on 19 councillors.With dozens of Tory councillors losing their seats against a backdrop of the row about lockdown-busting parties in No 10 and the cost-of-living crisis, local Conservative leaders also criticised the Prime Minister.John Mallinson, leader of Carlisle City Council which will be replaced by the new Cumberland authority, also told the BBC: “I think it is not just partygate, there is the integrity issue.“Basically I just don’t feel people any longer have the confidence that the Prime Minister can be relied upon to tell the truth.”In Portsmouth, where the Tories lost four seats, Simon Bosher the leader of the Conservative group said Mr Johnson should “take a good, strong look in the mirror” because “those are people that are actually bearing the brunt on the doorstep of behaviour of what’s been going on in Westminster”.Elsewhere the Conservatives lost control of West Oxfordshire, where the party had held 27 of the 49 seats, after the Liberal Democrats made a series of gains. More

Boris Johnson ‘out of touch’ over cost of living crisis, says Keir StarmerVotes are being counted overnight in the UK’s local elections, with the Tories bracing themselves for the loss of some key council seats.But with results starting to come in after midnight, it was Labour who lost out in the first significant change of control on Friday morning, losing Hull to the Lib Dems.Significant Conservative losses are expected to follow — Wandsworth, which has been in control of the Conservatives for more than 40 years, is among the London boroughs expected to fall to Labour.The losses have prompted Conservative local leaders to call upon Boris Johnson to “take a good, strong look in the mirror.”Outside of London, it is looking like a good night for the Lib Dems. After their Hull victory, Baroness Kramer said it was “a community that in a sense has been taken for granted frankly by both Labour and Conservatives”.And meanwhile, Labour took control of the newly created Cumberland council, a strong result in an area that has three Conservative MPs.Show latest update

1651805405Local Conservatives ask PM to ‘take a good, strong look in the mirror’One local Tory has called on Boris Johnson to “take a good, strong look in the mirror” amid the council seat losses in his area.Leader of Portsmouth City Council’s Conservative group Simon Bosher told the BBC: “I have to say the results have been extremely disappointing, not totally unexpected I have to say. We have actually lost some very good working community councillors this evening.“Personally I think those in power in Westminster really do need to take a good, hard look in the mirror because it is the rank and file grassroots members they rely on that are actually losing their seats tonight and it is pretty disappointing across the board.”

I think Boris does need to take a good, strong look in the mirror as well because I think he needs to look at those people that we have lost tonight… because those are people that are actually bearing the brunt on the doorstep of behaviour of what’s been going on in WestminsterSimon BosherNamita Singh6 May 2022 03:501651804098Latest elections scoreboardNamita Singh6 May 2022 03:281651803986Labour take newly created Cumberland councilLabour has won a convincing majority on the newly created council of Cumberland.The party was “surpassing all expectations” with the result in a place where, as ITV’s Tom Sheldrick points out, all three local MPs are Conservatives. BBC correspondent Robert Cooper calls it “devastating” for the Tories here.Namita Singh6 May 2022 03:261651803461Baroness Kramer ‘delighted’ with Lib Dem win in HullLiberal Democrat peer Baroness Kramer said she was “obviously delighted” her party had taken control of Hull council.Lady Kramer told Sky News the party had had “high hopes in Hull”.She said: “It is a community that in a sense has been taken for granted frankly by both Labour and Conservatives.”The Lib Dem peer said that “big significant local issues” like the number of GPs locally came up on the doorstep, as well as the cost of living and partygate.

It is not just partygate, it is everything it stands for, this sort of whole sense of a Government in moral collapse. Baroness Kramer Namita Singh6 May 2022 03:171651803214Lib Dems win HullThe Liberal Democrats have taken control of Hull city council, in the first major swing of the night, after they won 29 seats out of 57, with results still pending on three.With this decisive victory, the Lib Dems have taken back the control of the council that has been under Labour since 2011.Namita Singh6 May 2022 03:131651798850Tories hold BasildonTory councillors hold 22 of the 42 seats on the authority, giving an overall majority, after the winners of 11 of the 14 wards that went to the polls were announced at the count at Basildon Sporting Village.Of the 11 wards announced, Conservative councillors held seven seats, Labour held one and gained one from a non-aligned candidate, one independent candidate held his seat and another independent candidate gained a seat from the Tories.The Conservatives have held overall control of Basildon Council in Essex, with the results of three wards still to be declared.Chris Baynes6 May 2022 02:001651797950Tories facing losses in LondonBoris Johnson’s Tories are braced for losses in London as the first votes start being counted following elections across the UK.Council seats are up for grabs in Scotland, Wales and many parts of England, while Northern Ireland is electing its new assembly in what could be the most significant vote of them all, with Sinn Fein seeking to become the largest party.Votes were being counted in some of the English contests overnight including key authorities in the capital, where the Tories fear their flagship council Wandsworth will fall to Labour.The south London borough is a totemic authority for the Tories. It was a favourite of Margaret Thatcher’s – turning blue in 1978 a year before her election as prime minister – and is renowned for its low taxes.But Tory insiders believe it is a “definite loss”, along with Barnet, while Westminster could also see a loss of Tory control in what would amount to a grim night for Mr Johnson’s party in the city he used to run.Labour sources said it was too early to tell, but the Conservatives are prepared for a difficult night.Chris Baynes6 May 2022 01:451651797106Labour ‘confident’ of taking BarnetThe leader of the Labour group on Barnet council said the party was confident of taking the council from the Tories.Barry Rawlings told the BBC: “I’ve been feeling confident for a while, I think we’ve had a very good campaign, got good candidates, it feels good on the streets.”The north London borough has a large Jewish community and he said the “stain” of anti-Semitism had been removed from the party under Sir Keir Starmer.”We’ve certainly turned a corner on anti-Semitism since Keir’s been the leader,” he said.”Obviously I’ve been leader [in Barnet] for six years so it hasn’t always been the most comfortable six years to represent Labour in a place like Barnet, where there’s about 15% of the population – but if you’re talking about regular voters, it’s probably about 20 per cent are Jewish.”But of course it means that there’s a lot of non -Jewish people who have Jewish friends and so anti-Semitism was a stain on us. We were a tainted brand.”Sir Keir launched Labour’s London election campaign in Barnet, which showed the “symbolic value” of the borough, which his party has never before had overall control of.Chris Baynes6 May 2022 01:311651797050Tories ‘threw kitchen sink’ at SunderlandThe Conservatives “threw the kitchen sink” at Sunderland Council, and still did not manage to gain it from Labour, a Labour MP has said.Speaking after Labour retained control of the council, Hampstead and Kilburn MP Tulip Siddiq told Sky News: “I am delighted to see the Sunderland result, mostly because speaking to MPs who are connected to Sunderland from the Labour Party … and local activists, the Conservatives have thrown the kitchen sink at it.”I mean, the prime minister was there. When you are in government you only send the prime minister to seats that you think you can overturn and change. So the prime minister was there on Bank Holiday Monday and we still held it.”Boris Johnson and the Chancellor Rishi Sunak both visited Sunderland on the campaign trail.Chris Baynes6 May 2022 01:301651796582First results declaredThe first results are in and pole position goes to Broxbourne, in Hertfordshire, where the Conservatives kept control of the council, winning nine of the 10 seats contested, with Labour taking the other one.Labour have kept control of Sunderland, where the Liberal Democrats gained two seats, and of Halton, where the Conservatives gained a seat from the Greens.Chris Baynes6 May 2022 01:23 More

Tech giants with deep-rooted market power will have to abide by new “fair-play” rules to drive up competition, under plans confirmed by the Government.The UK’s new technology regulator will also be granted fresh powers to issue fines of up to 10% of turnover for non-compliance, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) said.However it is unclear when exactly the changes will come into force, as the Government has only said the necessary legislation will be introduced “in due course”.The Digital Markets Unit (DMU) swung into action in April last year, with the aim of boosting online competition for smaller players, as well as giving users more choice, control over their data, and ultimately fair prices.

The dominance of a few tech giants is crowding out competition and stifling innovationChris PhilpBased within the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the watchdog was instructed to work with Ofcom, looking at the relationships between platforms, such as Facebook and Google, and content providers like news publishers.However, the DMU has been constrained by the CMA’s existing powers, with the Government previously saying it planned to legislate to put it on a statutory footing as soon as parliamentary time allowed.The DCMS has now confirmed it intends to go ahead with its proposals to further empower the regulator, following a consultation.But it has only said the new legislation to give the DMU statutory powers will be introduced “in due course”.It comes after The Financial Times reported that a Bill to secure statutory underpinning for the watchdog would be missing from the upcoming Queen’s Speech, which sets out the Government’s legislative agenda.Once the legislation has passed, the DMU will have the power to enforce new tailored codes of conduct for firms dominating digital markets, outlining how they should treat their users and other companies fairly, with “tough sanctions” for those ignoring the rules, the DCMS said.Digital minister Chris Philp said: “Technology has revolutionised the way thousands of UK firms do business – helping them reach new customers and putting a range of instant online services at people’s fingertips.“But the dominance of a few tech giants is crowding out competition and stifling innovation.“We want to level the playing field and we are arming this new tech regulator with a range of powers to generate lower prices, better choice and more control for consumers while backing content creators, innovators and publishers, including in our vital news industry.”Andrea Coscelli, chief executive of the CMA, said: “The CMA welcomes these proposals and we’re pleased that the Government has taken forward a number of our recommendations that will allow the DMU to oversee an effective and robust digital markets regime in the UK.“The CMA stands ready to assist the Government to ensure that legislation can be brought forward as quickly as possible, so consumers and businesses can benefit.”Rocio Concha, director of policy and advocacy at Which?, said the Queen’s Speech on May 10 represented a “golden opportunity” for the Government to introduce the legislation to further empower the regulator.

Next week’s Queen’s Speech represents a golden opportunity to introduce the necessary legislation – and ministers must take itRocio Concha“The rules governing competition in the UK’s digital markets are in desperate need of an upgrade, so it’s encouraging that the Government intends to introduce new rules to tackle the entrenched power of tech giants,” she said.“For the sake of UK consumers and businesses, it is essential that the Digital Markets Unit is properly empowered.“The UK has the opportunity to set an international standard for promoting competition in digital markets.“Having taken the step of establishing and funding the DMU last year, the Government must give it the tools it needs to do its job.“Next week’s Queen’s Speech represents a golden opportunity to introduce the necessary legislation – and ministers must take it.” More

Former Conservative minister Nick Boles has revealed he voted Labour for the first time since Tony Blair’s 1997 general election landslide.It comes as polling stations closed in the local elections across England, Scotland, and Wales, with voters casting their ballots in thousands of council seats to select local representatives.Mr Boles – the former Tory MP for Grantham and Stamford – tweeted earlier on Thursday: “First time I’ve voted Labour since an equally glorious May morning in 1997”.Mr Boles, who served in David Cameron’s government, quit the Conservatives in April 2019, after accusing his former party of failing to compromise over Brexit and walked out of the Commons chamber.First elected under the Tory banner at the 2010 election, he remained as an Independent MP until November 2019 before deciding he would not seek re-election as a snap election sought by Boris Johnson.After sharing his decision to vote Labour on Thursday, Mr Boles also retweeted a message from Sir Keir Starmer, which read: “Today is our chance to send the Tories a message they can’t ignore: Britain deserves better.”“Make a plan to vote and tell your friends and family to do the same,” it added.In England, more than 4,000 councillors in 146 councils were standing for election in major cities including Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham and all 32 London boroughs. All of Scotland’s 32 councils – last contested in 2017 – and 22 Welsh councils are also up for grabs.With counting now underway, the first results, including major Labour London targets of Wandsworth and Barnet, are expected to declare in the early hours of Friday morning.The results will be considered a major mid-term test for the Conservatives amid the ongoing Partygate scandal, with police still investigating events in No 10, and the deepening concern over the cost-of-living crisis.Writing for The Independent before voters headed to the polls, the polling expert professor Sir John Curtice claimed: “At first glance, the omens are not good for Boris Johnson.“His party shows no sign of recovering the poll lead it enjoyed in this parliament until his probity and ethics became the subject of controversy. On average the Conservatives currently trail Labour by six points. That represents as much as a nine-point swing since the 2019 general election.”He suggested the election could “well produce Tory losses of a few hundred seats – but it would not necessarily look like a tsunami that threatened to sweep Johnson out of Downing Street”. More