Local elections 2023: Tories suffer major losses as Labour make key gains - key results

Labour took Medway off the Tories for the first time since 1998 and gained control of Plymouth, where the Tories had run a minority administration.

Labour also won in Stoke-on-Trent, another general election battleground, and it replaced the Tories as the largest party in Hartlepool and Worcester. The Tories lost control of Hertsmere where 13 councillors were voted out, while Labour gained seven and the Lib Dems six.

Tamworth, Brentford, North West Leicestershire and East Lindsey also fell from Tory administrations to no overall control.

West Lindsey remained under no overall control but the Lib Dems replaced the Tories as the largest party.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak described the local elections results so far as "disappointing" as he vowed to "carry on".

Full results have been declared from 58 of the 230 councils where elections were being held, with the Tories losing seven councils and suffering a net loss of 167 councillors.

Meanwhile, Labour has gained control of three councils and put on 129 councillors, the Liberal Democrats have gained once council and 55 councillors, and the Green Party has gained nine councillors.

The Prime Minister told Sky News: “It’s always disappointing to lose hard-working Conservative councillors, they’re friends, they’re colleagues and I’m so grateful to them for everything they’ve done.

“In terms of the results, it’s still early, we’ve just had a quarter of the results in, but what I am going to carry on doing is delivering on the people’s priorities – halving inflation, growing the economy, reducing debt, cutting waiting lists and stopping the boats.

“That’s what people want us to do, that’s what I’m going to keep hard at doing.”

Labour had this Kent council firmly in its sights, with leader Sir Keir Starmer visiting the area on the final day of the election campaign. The party ended up gaining 13 seats, enough to take full control of Medway for the first time since 1998. The Conservatives lost 11 seats and overall control. The new council sees Labour on 33 and the Tories on 22, with four independents.

In another big setback for the Tories, the party lost 15 seats and overall control, while the Liberal Democrats clocked up 12 gains. It is the first time since 2007 the council has a Lib Dem majority.

This was a key Labour target in what will be one of the main battlegrounds at the next general election. Labour gained a hefty 17 seats on the council, while the Conservatives lost eight and independents lost nine. Stoke was once solid Labour territory at general elections but the Tories won all three constituencies in the city in 2019.

Labour gained 10 seats here, enough to leave them the largest party but short of an overall majority. The Lib Dems gained a seat, while the Conservatives lost 10 and the Greens lost one. This is the area of the country represented at Westminster by Andrew Bridgen MP, who was recently expelled from the Conservatives for comparing Covid vaccines to the Holocaust.

This was one of Labour’s top targets in southern England. The party will be pleased with the result, taking overall control with seven gains. The council had been run by a minority Conservative administration, which came in for criticism after chopping down 110 healthy city centre trees overnight – a decision that may be linked to the Tories losing five seats.

Labour made seven gains in Tamworth while the Tories lost five. This was enough to deprive the Tories of full control of the council and, although they remain the largest party with 14 seats, Labour is now close behind on 10 while independents have six.

This is another council where the Conservatives lost control, although here it was the Liberal Democrats who made the running, gaining three seats while the Tories lost three. The new council sees the Lib Dems and Tories tied on 17 seats, with two for Labour and one independent.

Labour has said these results show the party is on course for a victory in the next general election. They took Medway from the Conservatives, and took control of Stoke and Plymouth.

Shabana Mahmood, Labour’s National Campaign Co-ordinator, said: "These results show that we are on course for a majority Labour government.  

  "We have spent the whole campaign talking about Labour’s plan to tackle the Tory cost of living crisis which is the number one issue for voters. Rishi Sunak can't talk about it because the Tories crashed the economy and they don’t know how to fix it.   

"These results have been a disaster for Rishi Sunak as voters punish him for the Tories’ failure."   

With only around 60 councils declared, the inquest has already begun amongst the Conservatives. Some to the right of the party have called for Boris Johnson to be brought back (he who started the Tories' poll slide I know). Others say they need to move towards Liz Truss' low tax policies (an interesting call after her demise).

Gavin Barwell, who was Theresa May's chief of staff and is now a peer, however has blamed the two former prime ministers. He told Radio 4's Today Programme that the "problem is the damage Johnson and Truss did to the Conservative brand".

Asked whether the message of “steady as she goes” was a “problem” when heading for a “blooming great iceberg”, Lord Barwell admitted it was a “difficult message” for the Conservatives.

The former Tory minister said: “It is a difficult message. They need to deliver improvements on the key issues that matter to the voters.

“The economy is pretty crucial, people have been through an incredibly painful economic period over the last couple of years, so getting inflation down, getting the economy growing again, tackling the state of our NHS, that’s not steady as she goes.

“The question strategically… is have they identified the right issues that they need to deliver progress on?

“They also need to be realistic. It was always going to be hugely difficult for Sunak given the terrible situation that he inherited 18 months ago to turn the thing around.”

With results declared from 61 of 230 councils, the Conservatives have lost control of nine councils, with Labour gaining three, the Liberal Democrats one, independents one and four under no overall control.

The Conservatives have lost 190 seats, with Labour gaining 138, the Lib Dems 59 and Greens 13.

Sir Keir Starmer said Labour is on course to win a majority at the next general election.

Speaking to supporters in Medway, where Labour gained the council from the Tories, Starmer said: “Make no mistake, we are on course for a Labour majority at the next general election.”

Starmer told supporters the result in Medway was “fantastic” as Labour won in key battlegrounds. “You didn’t just get it over the line, you blew the doors off,” he told supporters to cheers.

“And we’re having fantastic results across the country,” Sir Keir added, citing victories in Plymouth, Stoke and Middlesbrough.

Starmer said: “What we’ve shown together is that we can make change. We’ve changed our party. We’ve won the trust, the confidence, of voters, and now we can go on to change our country. Change is possible. A better Britain is possible.”

The Lib Dems are well known for their sometimes bizarre election stunts and metaphors, and this election was no different.

Sir Ed Davey unveiled what was described as a “general election countdown clock” with a sign saying “Time’s up for Rishi Sunak” on the top. He said it had been a “wonderful morning” and that the Lib Dems were making “big gains across the country”.

He said: “We’ve beaten the Conservatives in Bath and in Brentwood, in Hertfordshire and in Hinckley. We’re making gains off Labour — we’ve increased our majority in Hull — and we’re making huge gains across the country against the Conservatives.

“We’re continuing to make sure the ‘blue wall’ tumbles down.

“And I’m so proud of the result here in Windsor. And I’m so proud that when Katy Perry and Lionel Richie enter Windsor Castle for the coronation concert on Sunday, they will be going into a ward that is represented by three brand new Liberal Democrat councillors.”

Davey also said he saw a “chance” that a general election could be held within the next 12 months, adding: “My message to my party is: ‘A great night for us, but let’s go back and work even harder so we can beat the Conservatives at the next general election’.”

Liberal Democrat candidate Monica Harding, who is campaigning to replace Tory MP Dominic Raab in his Esher and Walton constituency, told NationalWorld that the overnight local election results represent a “really positive start” for her party.

Speaking at Sandown Racecourse, where the count for Elmbridge Borough Council is taking place, she said: “Usually, we see most of our gains take place the next day, rather than overnight, so to already be making such good progress is great to see.”

Ms Harding was also positive when looking ahead to the next general election, due in autumn 2024, claiming that the Lib Dems were the “real contender to the Conservatives.”

She told NationalWorld: “Here in Elmbridge, we’re at the heart of the blue wall. And we already nearly unseated the Conservative MP here last election - and now we’re making gain after gain in places we haven’t been competitive before.”

In 2019, Raab received 31,132 votes, while Ms Harding followed closely behind with 28,389 votes - a result which represented a huge gain of 18,015 extra votes for the Lib Dems since the 2017 general election.

Speaking about what voters should know about the Lib Dems, Ms Harding said her party would prioritise “competence, compassion and community” if in government - adding that she feels the public is “fed up with incompetence” and “wants to be treated fairly.”

She also addressed the recent controversy surrounding Dominic Raab, who she will be up against when the next general election comes. Ms Harding said: “The Liberal Democrats have called on him to resign. If he is not fit to be a minister, we feel he is also not fit to be an MP. The people of Esher and Walton deserve better.”

Raab was recently found to have bullied colleagues, following an investigation into his professional conduct.

Polling expert Professor Sir John Curtice has echoed what he previously told NationalWorld, that it is too soon to say that Labour is on course to win a majority at the next general election.

The political academic told the PA news agency this morning: “The swing in the national polls since 2019 is 5%, the swing in the sample of results we have is 4%, therefore it’s a little bit lower.

“In our sample at least Labour’s vote is not up on last year, so it’s not the kind of performance Blair was achieving before ‘97.

“Labour are going to have their biggest lead over the Conservatives in terms of votes than at any point since 2010 but it’s going to be as much to do with the Conservatives being down as much as it is Labour being up.

“If you want to be able to say this is clear evidence that we as a party have made progress, well as of 10.45am the jury is still out.”