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Keir Starmer said Labour’s victories as Andy Street was ousted in the West Midlands and Sadiq Khan was re-elected in London proved ‘our country is ready for change’
Keir Starmer has told Rishi Sunak he has “nowhere left to hide” from voters, after another disastrous day of election results for the Tories.
The Labour leader told the Mirror the party’s high profile victories across the country proved “our country is ready for change.”
Any hopes Tory MPs had they could buck expectations in London evaporated as it became clear Sadiq Khan would win a historic third term as Mayor of the capital. No10 last night confirmed even the Prime Minister himself didn’t vote for London Tory candidate Susan Hall, whose campaign had been marred by accusations of islamophobia and false claims.
Instead he voted by post in North Yorkshire, where his constituency is – and where Labour’s David Skaith won the race to be the region’s first elected mayor. Meanwhile Tory Andy Street lost his job as Mayor of the West Midlands after a nailbiting election was forced to a recount by desperate Conservatives.
With most of the votes counted, Labour had picked up around 200 seats – with the Tories losing almost half of the 1,000 seats they were defending. And Labour made an almost clean sweep of mayoral elections, holding or winning every region with the exception of Tees Valley.
The apparently unstoppable red wave prompted more speculation about Mr Sunak’s future, as Tory MPs looked ahead to almost certain defeat in the next General Election.
Nationally, Labour held on to a 16 point lead over the Tories in a survey from pollsters Opinium. The same poll showed Mr Sunak’s personal approval rating had plummeted by six points in the last month – to minus 40%. Mr Starmer’s rating was 30 points ahead on minus 9%.
Mr Starmer said: “As Mirror readers have seen, over the past months I have been out campaigning and supporting our incredible new Labour councilors and mayors in communities all across the country. While the proud communities in places like London, the East Midlands and Thurrock are all different, wherever I met with working people it was clear that there is a shared yearning for change.
“A shared yearning right across the country that our streets should be safer, for an NHS that people can rely upon again, and for an economy that grows and works for working people. This is the future that our great country has this weekend loudly said it wants and that is the future that Labour will deliver for communities all over the country.”
Conservative HQ were reportedly last night ringing round wavering Tory MPs to calm them down as they nervously watched the West Midlands race go down to the wire. Only Tory poster-boy Ben Houchen was left standing, clinging on as Tees Valley Mayor despite a mammoth 16.5% swing to Labour.
Allies of the PM believed Houchen’s win in Tees Valley would be enough to save Mr Sunak from immediate challenges to his leadership. “That ship sailed with Houchen,” one plotter said.
But others fear the party’s embarrassing show in London and West Midlands was an indication the party – and Mr Sunak’s leadership – were beyond saving. One former Cabinet minister said: “I’m not going to fall off my chair if a week on Monday he calls a general election.”
The Commons timetable for next Monday and Tuesday is particularly light, with the only big piece of legislation due that week being the Criminal Justice Bill, returning to the Commons the following Wednesday. “There’s a lot of space in the agenda for him to slot in the parliamentary business of calling an election that week,” the former Minister added.
Sadiq Khan won a comfortable victory in London – despite frenzied speculation that a higher than expected turnout made victory possible for Ms Hall. In the end, Mr Khan secured just over 1,088,000 votes to be re-elected London Mayor, a majority of some 275,000 over Ms Hall, who secured just under 813,000 votes.
Ms Hall’s campaign focused attention on Mr Khan’s expansion of the ultra-low emissions zone (Ulez) to cover London’s outer boroughs. She described this as part of a “war on motorists” in her campaign literature – and falsely claimed Mr Khan planned to introduce “pay per mile” charging in the capital.
Ms Hall was also found to be a member of a string of anti-Ulez Facebook groups, which featured Islamophobic abuse of Mr Khan and conspiracy theories. Mr Khan said his win was “a victory for hope over fear and unity over division.”
He added: “We now need a General Election right away. In London we’ve been swimming against the tide of a Tory government that has done nothing but cause damage to our communities. It’s time for Rishi Sunak to give people across the UK the choice about who they want to lead this country. People have had enough of Conservative chaos and are ready for change.”
The dramatic West Midlands Mayoral result went down to the wire – with Labour’s Richard Parker clinching the victory by just over 1,500 votes – in a region of more than 3 million electors. Desperate Tories forced a recount in Coventry, which failed to find the extra votes they needed for former John Lewis to win – despite a strong independent challenger who stood on a pro-Palestine platform.
Mr Street had heavily distanced himself from the national Conservative Party during his campaign, even removing references to the Tory party from his website in November in a bid to run as an “independent” candidate.
Elsewhere, Labour’s Andy Burnham was re-elected as Greater Manchester Mayor with a thumping 63.4% of the vote. The Labour veteran, branded “The King in the North” by supporters, beat his nearest challenger by 350,000 votes – more than the population of Coventry. In his victory speech, Mr Burnham said Britain “desperately needs a new Government and a fresh start.”
He said he knows people who usually support other parties have lent him their support in this election, and “in return I will always respect that and I will continue to adopt a place first rather than party first approach, which is the foundation of Greater Manchester’s success”.
In Liverpool, Labour’s Steve Rotheram was re-elected as metro mayor by a similarly huge margin – winning 68% of the vote. Mr Rotheram accused Mr Sunak of “squatting in Downing Street”. “I say come out and face the voters,” he said. “Mr Sunak, call a general election, we’re ready when you are, but whilst we’re waiting our work will continue unabated.”
And Oliver Coppard said he would “join millions of people across the north in calling out this Government for their failure to level up our country” as he retained his job as South Yorkshire Mayor.
Count Binface – a man dressed up as a space alien wearing a dustbin helmet – secured more than 24,000 votes in London’s Mayoral contest. Standing on a platform of banning croissants from costing more than £1 and throwing Thames Water bosses in the river “to see how they like it”, Count Binface defeated far-right Britain First candidate Nick Scanlon by around 4,000 votes.
