Amid preparations for Charles III’s coronation at Westminster Abbey on Saturday, the UK is celebrating this Thursday. partial local electionsWith more than 8,000 seats in 230 town halls and councils England (London, Scotland and Wales in between). Although these are municipal elections, it will be the first test for Rishi Sunak at the polls six months after taking office as prime minister and party leader. Conservative Party. They will also serve to measure strength. labor party related to Keir Starmerinflicted a serious defeat on the ‘Conservatives’ in the capital, who had already passed the test of last year’s local elections.
Of the 8,050 seats to be taken, 3,363 are currently held by the Conservatives and 2,140 by the Labor Party. According to the polls, the ‘Conservatives’ will suffer significant losses in multiple key councils that will go to Labor and Liberal Democratic Party (currently has 1,221). Greg Hands, the head of the Conservatives, has assumed that his party could lose nearly 1,000 members of parliament after a year of major political turmoil with three prime ministers and a series of scandals and controversies, as well as a series of protests. social unrest public service strikes and street protests.
On the other hand, Sunak’s party is experiencing the economic turmoil experienced by the country due to Brexit and Brexit. Pandemicexacerbated by ukraine war And energy crisisan uplifting cocktail inflation levels not seen since the late 1970s and early 1980s under the Margaret Thatcher. In fact, the main concern of citizens is economy and health, economy and health. immigration or Brexit. But the most mundane issues also weigh heavily in these elections, and small parties like Los Verdes often get good results because they are the target of protest voting.
Identification
As a novelty, these will be the first picks for the British to offer a boost. identification Photographed to give your ballot to the ballot box. Experts fear that this new situation will drive thousands away from polling stations in a country where ID cards and proof of identity are not mandatory.
In any case, this Thursday’s elections will only provide a sketch of the current balance of power between Labor and the Conservatives, which could change a lot between today and the general elections scheduled for the end of 2024. According to a YouGov poll for ‘The Times’ last October, after Liz Truss resigned after a short 45-day tenure, Starmer’s party had 56% of the vote, compared to 18% of ‘Conservatives’. . In another survey conducted by the same opinion institution at the end of April for the aforementioned newspaper, support for the Workers Party dropped to 41 percent, while Sunak’s increased to 27 percent.
Altar vs. Starmer’s duel
As he explained to EL PERIÓDICO of the Prensa Ibérica group, Tony Travers“The government, especially Prime Minister Sunak, is trying to rebuild trust in Turkey’s brand,” said a professor at the London School of Economics. Conservative Party“For this reason, this formation predicts “voter turnout” will increase, something that could prevent a bigger bleed at the polls. In Travers’ view, compared to Johnson and Truss, “The Altar is a relatively traditional conservative. and he wants to calm the situation.” “And he seems to be having reasonable success,” he adds.
Meanwhile, Starmer moves on without arousing great passion among the electorate, at a time when his party is able to garner support among angry conservative voters. “Starmer (…) needs a dominant outcome to convince him that Labor is indeed on its way back to government. Transforming hope into expectation will require a red tide reminiscent of the golden age of 2018. Tony Blair Anything less than a coup will do,” he warned a few days ago. robert fordProfessor at the University of Manchester, on the ‘Observer’ pages.