By any standard, it was a bad night for the Conservatives.

An eight-point swing to Labour across council areas up for re-election on Thursday means Rishi Sunak's party is on course to lose 1,000 seats, according to some estimates.

Tories were forced to argue on Friday morning that while it had been a “disappointing” polling day, it had not been as successful for Labour as the infamous 1995 local elections, where Tony Blair won more than 1800 seats.

That such a comprehensive victory is the point of comparison for Sir Keir Starmer shows how far Labour has come – and will only fuel expectations that he will win the next general election.

#labour #conservatives #election

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