Local elections 2023: Labour overtakes Conservatives as largest party of local government
Labour has now become the largest party of local government – surpassing the Tories for the first time since 2002 in a historic milestone.
The party was able to overtake the Tories after Rishi Sunak’s party suffered losses across the country, with six switching directly to Labour.
By Friday evening, Labour had won more than 450 seats seats and 19 councils, while the Tories lost over 978 seats and 47 councils.
The Labour wins came in battleground areas the party had been targeting including Medway in Kent and Swindon in the South West – both of which have been run by the Tories for the past 20 years.
In a further boost, the party also won several councils from no overall control including Plymouth, Stoke-on-Trent, Blackpool, Middlesbrough, Broxtowe, High Peak and North East Derbyshire.
Throughout the day, the party continued to count successes in councils including Dover, East Staffordshire and Bracknell Forest, which it snatched from the Conservatives.
Some of its later gains were in Erewash and South Ribble, which it took from the Conservatives – the latter for the first time since 1999.
The results came in stark contrast to the Conservatives, who witnessed a slate of councils fall from their grip and into no overall control – a theme that has dominated the party’s evening.
On Friday evening, it lost a host of councils including Surrey Heath to the Lib Dems. Wealden, Staffordshire Moorlands and Central Bedfordshire all switched to no overall control.
The party also crashed to defeat in East Suffolk, Broadland, and Newark & Sherwood.
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The losses were preceded by Tamworth, Brentwood, North West Leicestershire, Hertsmere and East Lindsey, which all fell to no overall control overnight.
That pattern continued into Friday after losses across the country including in South Kesteven, South Gloucestershire, Welwyn Hatfield, Maidstone, Bromsgrove, Cannock Chase, West Devon, North Warwickshire and Tewkesbury.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer celebrated the gains as showing that his party was on course to win a majority at the next general election.
Politics live: ‘Alarm bells’ in Tory HQ as party takes ‘hammering by any standards’
Speaking from Medway, the jubilant Labour leader told supporters: “You didn’t just get it over the line, you blew the doors off.
“We’re having fantastic results across the country.
“Make no mistake, we are on course for a Labour majority at the next general election.”
Sir Keir Starmer celebrated “fantastic” council results
The Liberal Democrats were also celebrating gains throughout the day after they won control of councils in the “Blue Wall” Tory heartlands of Windsor and Maidenhead, Dacorum in Hertfordshire, Stratford-upon-Avon and South Hams.
The party also picked up Mid Devon council which had been in no overall control and South Oxfordshire.
The Green Party’s first major result of the day came when it won its first outright majority in Mid Suffolk, where the council had previously been under no overall control. Overall the party is currently up by more than 150 seats.
Despite the progress enjoyed by Labour in this set of elections, the party still needs to achieve a swing bigger than Sir Tony Blair’s landslide election victory in 1997 to secure a majority at the next election.
Sky News’ election analyst Professor Michael Thrasher said that based on analysis of change in vote share across 1,500 wards, Labour is the most popular party with 36%, with the Conservative share 29%, Lib Dems with 18% and others standing at 17%.
See full local election results here
Assuming a uniform national swing and applying these to the seats decided at the last general election, Labour would be on course to become the largest party at the next election.
It would gain 95 seats – to an improved total of 298 in this projection – the highest number since Labour won the 2005 general election, but 28 short of an overall majority.
And speaking to Sky’s Sophy Ridge after the scale of the Tory losses became clear, Labour shadow attorney general Emily Thornberry said the party was “pretty happy”, but added: “We’ve still got a long way to go.”
She added: “The sort of result that we need will be stupendous. We’ve got a mountain to climb – we know that we do.
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Emily Thornberry: “We’re pretty happy.”
“But we have got ourselves into a pretty good basecamp and the view’s alright.”
There was also disappointment for Labour in some areas. In Slough, Labour lost the council to no overall control.
And the party also struggled to replicate its headline successes in the South in some areas of the North East, including Darlington, Stockton and Hartlepool.
Sir Keir’s party did progress in Darlington and Hartlepool, but was unable to take back overall control of either – and in Stockton, the Conservatives took seats to become the biggest group for the first time in many years – although the council remained under no overall control.
Projected national estimated vote share
‘This is not a verdict on Rishi Sunak’
Asked by Sky News’ Sophy Ridge whether the results showed that Rishi Sunak had failed his first test at the ballot box, former Cabinet minister Liam Fox said: “It’s not a great result for us by any means but… this is not a verdict on Rishi Sunak – Rishi Sunak has actually seen the party’s electoral chances improving.”
Despite the early losses, Mr Sunak was defiant as he spoke to reporters outside the Conservative Party headquarters on Friday morning.
He said it is always “disappointing” to lose “hard-working Conservative councillors” but “in terms of the results, it’s still early”.
“We’re making progress in key election battlegrounds like Peterborough, Bassetlaw and Sandwell,” he said.
“I am not detecting any massive groundswell of movement to the Labour Party or excitement about their agenda.”
However, a Labour source said the Conservatives had only won two seats in Sandwell, where it now has 12 seats compared with Labour’s 60, adding: “If that is all the PM and CCHQ can point to as ‘progress’ they are in enormous trouble.”
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Sunak responds to local election results
Read more: See full elections results as they come in
Labour has shown sound gains when it comes to both seats and vote share in numerous areas, including Thurrock, Rushmoor and Redditch.
‘Hammer blow to Tories’
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey hailed a “historic victory” for the Liberal Democrats’, whom he said had enjoyed its “best result in decades”.
“It’s little wonder Rishi Sunak is running scared of a general election, because he knows the Liberal Democrats are set to take swathes of seats across the Conservative Party’s former heartlands,” he said.
Voters have been deciding who runs services in 230 (out of 317) local authorities in England, with around 8,000 councillors’ seats up for grabs.
Leader of the Liberal Democrats Sir Ed Davey in Windsor
Mayors have also been chosen in Bedford, Leicester, Mansfield and Middlesbrough in what is the biggest round of local elections since 2019.
The seats on offer were last contested in 2019, when Mrs May was weeks away from resigning, and her party lost 1,300 seats.
Labour, led by Jeremy Corbyn at the time, also suffered losses with the Lib Dems, Greens and independents coming off best.
Analysis: Is this a new dawn for Labour?
Here are the benchmarks from Sky News’ elections analyst Professor Michael Thrasher for what would make a good and bad night for the main parties:
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Sky’s election analyst explains his general election projection
Conservatives
• Fewer than 300 losses: This would see the party winning council seats back from Independents, with Labour and the Lib Dems not prospering
• 500 losses: The party could argue “mid-term blues” and will assume Labour could be caught before the general election
• 750 losses: This would indicate a clear swing to Labour, but still less than opinion polls imply
• 1,000 losses: A very bad night, with a third of all seats defended by the Conservatives lost
Labour
• 700 gains: The best local elections for at least a decade. Labour would look on its way to becoming the largest party in Westminster, even if short of a majority
• 450 gains: These results would be better than in 2022, when local elections took place in Greater London
• 250 gains: A disappointing result for Labour in the context of recent opinion polls
• Under 150 gains: A step backwards for Labour
Liberal Democrats
• 150+ gains: Eating into Conservative territory and could put some marginal constituencies in play at the next election
• 50-100 gains: Comfortable enough in their own heartlands but only modest further progress
• Fewer than 50 gains: Fewer than 50 gains: Still struggling to pose a real threat to the Conservatives in the South
Sky News will be bringing you full coverage both on TV and online.
World
‘Almost like a game of target practice’: British surgeon says IDF shooting Gazans at aid points
A British surgeon who recently returned from Gaza has told Sky News that there is “profound malnutrition” among the population – and claims IDF soldiers are shooting civilians at aid points “like a game of target practice”.
Dr Nick Maynard spent four weeks working inside Nasser Hospital, where a lack of food has left medics struggling to treat children and toddlers.
The conditions inside the hospital, in the south of the Strip, have been documented in a Sky News report.
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Malnourished girl: ‘The war changed me’
Dr Maynard told The World with Yalda Hakim: “I met several doctors who had cartons of formula feed in their luggage – and they were all confiscated by the Israeli border guards. Nothing else got confiscated, just the formula feed.
“There were four premature babies who died during the first two weeks when I was in Nasser Hospital – and there will be many, many more deaths until the Israelis allow proper food to get in there.”
Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity kitchen in Gaza City. Pic: Reuters
In other developments:
• Israel and the US have recalled their teams from Gaza ceasefire talks
• US envoy Steve Witkoff has accused Hamas “of failing to act in good faith”
• France has announced that it will recognise the state of Palestine
• An influential group of MPs is calling on the UK to “immediately” do the same
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‘Starvation used as a weapon’
‘They were shells’
Dr Nick Maynard has been going to Gaza for the past 15 years – and this is his third visit to the territory since the war began.
The British surgeon added that virtually all of the kids in the paediatric unit of Nasser Hospital are being fed with sugar water.
“They’ve got a small amount of formula feed for very small babies, but not enough,” he warned.
Dr Maynard said the lack of aid has also had a huge impact on his colleagues.
“I saw people I’d known for years and I didn’t recognise some of them,” he added. “Two colleagues had lost 20kg and 30kg respectively. They were shells, they’re all hungry.
“They’re going to work every day, then going home to their tents where they have no food.”
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Ex-Gaza aid worker claims personnel shot at Palestinians
IDF ‘shooting Gazans at aid points’
Elsewhere in the interview, Dr Maynard claimed Israeli soldiers are shooting civilians at aid points “almost like a game of target practice”.
He has operated on boys as young as 11 who had been “shot at food distribution points” run by the US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
“They had gone to get food for their starving families and they were shot,” he said.
“I operated on one 12-year-old boy who died on the operating table because his injuries were so severe.”
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Gaza deaths increase when aid sites open
Dr Maynard continued: “What was even more distressing was the pattern of injuries that we saw, the clustering of injuries to particular body parts on certain days.
“One day they’d be coming in predominately with gunshot wounds to the head or the neck, another day to the abdomen.
“Twelve days ago, four young teenage boys came in, all of whom had been shot in the testicles and deliberately so.
“The clustering was far too obvious to be accidental, and it seemed to us like this was almost like a game of target practice.
“I would never have believed this possible unless I’d witnessed this with my own eyes.”
Palestinians brought to Nasser Hospital after being shot by Israeli forces, according to hospital officials and eyewitnesses. Pic: AP
Sky News has contacted the Israeli Defence Forces for comment.
An IDF spokesperson previously told Sky News it “strongly rejected” the accusations that its forces were instructed to deliberately shoot at civilians.
“To be clear, IDF directives prohibit deliberate attacks on civilians,” the spokesperson said, adding that the incidents are “being examined by the relevant IDF authorities”.
Read more:
Medics at Nasser hospital struggle to feed children
Gaza food situation ‘worst its ever been’
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Israeli military show aid waiting inside Gaza
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has been managing the supply of aid to Gaza since Israel lifted an 11-week blockade in May.
It has four aid distribution sites, all of which are located in Israeli military zones, with journalists prohibited from entering.
More than 1,000 people have been reported killed while trying to receive food aid since the GHF took over, according to the UN.
UNRWA, its relief agency for Gaza, has heavily criticised the scheme.
Commissioner general Philippe Lazzarini said: “The so-called ‘GHF’ distribution scheme is a sadistic death trap. Snipers open fire randomly on crowds as if they are given a licence to kill.”
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
Just a fraction of the aid trucks needed are making it into the enclave, the UN has said, while multiple aid groups and the World Health Organisation have warned Gazans are facing “mass starvation”.
Mr Lazzarini quoted a colleague on Thursday and said malnourished Palestinians in the Gaza “are neither dead nor alive, they are walking corpses”.
Eleven Thai civilians and a soldier have been killed in clashes between Thailand and Cambodia, officials have said, as long-standing tensions in disputed border areas boiled over into open conflict.
Among those killed was an eight-year-old boy, the army said in a statement.
It said most casualties occurred in Si Sa Ket province, where six people were killed after shots were fired at a fuel station.
Smoke and fire in the Kantharalak district in Thailand amid clashes between Thailand and Cambodia. Pic: Army Region 2 via Facebook/Reuters
Another 14 people have been injured in three Thai border provinces.
Thailand’s health minister Somsak Thepsuthin confirmed the fatalities to reporters, adding Cambodia’s actions, including an attack on a hospital, should be considered war crimes.
Both countries accuse one another of starting the military clashes and have downgraded their diplomatic relations in the rapidly escalating dispute. Thailand has also sealed all land border crossings with Cambodia.
Early on Thursday, a Thai F-16 fighter jet bombed targets in Cambodia, according to Thailand’s army.
“We have used air power against military targets as planned,” Thai army deputy spokesperson Richa Suksuwanon said.
Cambodia’s defence ministry said Thai jets had dropped bombs on a road near the ancient Preah Vihear temple, saying it “strongly condemns the reckless and brutal military aggression of the Kingdom of Thailand against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Cambodia”.
What has caused Thailand-Cambodia border clashes?
Thai people who fled clashes take shelter in Surin province. Pic: AP
Fighting has taken place in disputed border areas
‘Civilian areas targeted’
Clashes are ongoing in at least six areas along the border, the Thai defence ministry said.
Thailand’s foreign ministry said Cambodian troops fired “heavy artillery” on a Thai military base on Thursday morning and also targeted civilian areas, including a hospital.
“The Royal Thai Government is prepared to intensify our self-defence measures if Cambodia persists in its armed attack and violations upon Thailand’s sovereignty,” the ministry said in a statement.
A livestream video from Thailand’s side showed people, including children and the elderly, running from their homes and hiding in a concrete bunker as explosions sounded.
The clash happened in an area where the ancient Prasat Ta Muen Thom temple stands along the border between Thailand’s Surin province and Cambodia’s Oddar Meanchey province.
Thai people who fled clashes in Surin province, northeastern Thailand. Pic: AP
‘Conflict not spreading’
Thailand’s acting premier said fighting must first stop before peace talks can start.
Caretaker Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai told reporters there had been no declaration of war and conflict was not spreading into more provinces.
He said Cambodia had fired heavy weapons into Thailand without any specific targets, resulting in civilian deaths.
Earlier on Thursday, Cambodia downgraded diplomatic relations with Thailand to their lowest level, expelled the Thai ambassador and recalled all Cambodian staff from its embassy in Bangkok.
The day before, its neighbour withdrew its ambassador and expelled the top Cambodian diplomat in protest after five Thai soldiers were wounded in a land mine blast, one of whom lost part of a leg.
A week earlier, a land mine in a different contested area exploded and wounded three Thai soldiers, including one who lost a foot.
Relations between the southeast Asian neighbours have collapsed after a Cambodian soldier was killed in an armed confrontation in a disputed border area in May.
Read more on Sky News:
UK’s ‘tough choices’
‘Man-made starvation’ in Gaza
Man ‘scarred’ by Trump max security prison
Nationalist passions on both sides have further inflamed the situation, and Thailand’s prime minister was suspended earlier this month as an investigation was opened into possible ethics violations over her handling of the border dispute.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
Border disputes are longstanding issues that have caused periodic tensions between the countries. The most prominent and violent conflicts have been around the 1,000-year-old Preah Vihear temple.
In 1962, the International Court of Justice recognised Cambodian sovereignty over the temple area.
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