Britain’s Conservative Party suffered striking early setbacks on Friday in local elections that are viewed as a barometer for how the party will perform in a coming general election and a key test for the embattled prime minister, Rishi Sunak.
Only a minority of the results had been announced by early Friday, but already the signs were ominous, if not unexpected, for Mr. Sunak’s Conservatives, who have trailed the opposition Labour Party by double digits in national polls for 18 months.
The Conservatives have lost more than 120 seats so far, including six in Hartlepool, in northeast England, where the Conservatives had made inroads after Brexit but have more recently lost ground to the resurgent Labour Party.
Labour also won a special election for a parliamentary seat in Blackpool South, a seaside district, in a huge swing of votes away from the Conservatives, who had held the seat but narrowly missed finishing third, behind Reform U.K., a small right-wing party.
The previous Tory member of Parliament, Scott Benton, resigned in March after becoming embroiled in a lobbying scandal.
Persons:
Rishi Sunak, Scott Benton
Organizations:
Britain’s Conservative Party, Sunak’s Conservatives, Labour Party, Conservatives, Labour, Blackpool, Reform
Locations:
Hartlepool, England