The British Labor party demonstrated strong gains in the local elections held on May 2, showing signs that Conservative Leader and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his party could be replaced in the general elections later this year.
In the recent election, Labor gained over 180 council seats, while the Conservatives lost over 470 councilors. Sadiq Khan, from the Labor party, was reelected as Mayor of London, for a third consecutive term.
A shift toward a Labor-led government would mark the first in 14 years. Based on the local election alone, it appears Labor has a clear win. However, experts caution that local elections are not a certain indication of how the general election will turn out. One reason for that is the considerable number of voters who participate in general elections compared to local ones. The most recent general election in 2019 had a 67.3% turnout and the local election had just 35.9%.
Nevertheless, Labor Leader, Keir Starmer confidently addressed the Conservative party saying: “We’re fed up with your division, with your chaos, with your failure…if you leave your country in a worse state than you found it 14 years later, you do not deserve to be in government a moment longer.”
Despite the dramatic shift towards the Labor party, there is a drop in votes from the Muslim community. The change in voter intention reflects Starmer’s action to demand an unconditional ceasefire between Israel and Palestine.
In the UK one in five residents in the 85 surveyed local councils identified as Muslim. Historically, Labor was largely supported by the Muslim community in the UK until Starmer publicly justified Israel´s attacks on Palestinians. He then denied all his comments after being called Islamophobic.
Among the Labor party’s promises, Starmer has pledged to increase doctors’ and nurse’s wages on weekends and evenings, as well as cutting back on hospital appointment waiting lists.
In addition, to his ambitious public sector support, he has vowed to boost the number of police and community officers by over 13,000 to tackle gang and drug problems in the UK.