Britain’s ruling Conservative Party led by Prime Minister Boris Johnson lost key local councils in Thursday’s local elections, according to preliminary results.
According to the BBC, Johnson admitted that the Conservatives had faced a “difficult night” in some areas of England after preliminary results indicated that the opposition Labor Party had made gains in the capital, London, especially in the Wandsworth, Barney and Westminster councils, which have been controlled by the Conservatives since contracts.
For the first time since 1964, with about a third of the vote counted, the Conservative Party lost control of major councils in the capital to the Labor Party of Keir Starmer.
Johnson has faced criticism since he and other leaders of the Conservative Party were accused of violating the rules of social distancing that were imposed to tackle Covid-19.
According to the BBC, the results so far do not indicate the ability of the Labor Party to regain power in the event of a general election, and for his part, Conservative Party leader Oliver Dowden has tried to play down the losses incurred by the party, insisting that they do not represent a threat to the party’s existence. led by Johnson
“Looking at the map of results so far, I think that, while difficult, they are consistent with expectations since the mid-term,” Dowden told reporters.
Observers believe that the Labor Party will lose some local councils outside the capital; The results that emerged so far indicate that workers have not benefited from the decline in Conservative Party support due to the high cost of living and the decline in confidence in Johnson.
Adam Hogg, the new Labor official for Westminster City Council, said his party’s victory was a “major advantage”.
And the Conservative exit with bad results may ignite the existing state of anger towards the Conservative Party led by Johnson, which is embroiled in a series of scandals, the most famous of which was the Downing Street parties that caused him to be fined last month, to be the first British Prime Minister exposed to this while in office for convicting him of breaking the law.