London — UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservative Party faces big losses in local elections on Thursday as voters register a protest against her handling of Brexit. More than 8,000 council seats are up for grabs in mainly rural parts of England. Not all local votes are held at the same time, and the 2019 batch are predominantly Conservative-held, making it “target practice on Tory territory”, according to Robert Hayward, a Tory lord known for his electoral number-crunching. “It’s going to be a really difficult night,” influential Conservative backbench legislator Nicky Morgan said late on Wednesday in an interview on ITV’s Peston show. “Anybody who’s been on the doorstep recently will know that the national politics is having a difficult impact” on local politics. Electoral analysts including Hayward predict the Tories will lose 400-800 seats, with the traditional third party of UK politics, the Liberal Democrats, likely to be the main beneficiaries, and the main opposition Labo...
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Subscribe now to unlock this article.
Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).
There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.
Cancel anytime.
Questions? Email helpdesk@businesslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00. Got a subscription voucher? Redeem it now.