Tories lose control on key London councils in local elections

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Early results of the UK elections revealed Friday that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Tory Party suffered losses in the local elections and lost grip of its traditional strongholds in London, Reuters reported.

Till now, the Tories have lost in Wandsworth, "a low-tax Conservative stronghold since 1978, part of a trend in the British capital where voters used the elections to express anger over a cost-of-living crisis and fines imposed on the prime minister for breaking his own COVID-19 lockdown rules," the news agency indicated.

Johnson's party also lost in the borough of Barnet, "which has been held by the party in all but two elections since 1964," according to Reuters.

"This is a warning shot from Conservative voters," expressed Barnet council Conservative leader Daniel Thomas.

The Labour party said it might have won in Westminster - where most governmental institutions are located - for the first time.

Portsmouth's senior Conservative, Simon Bosher, said the Tory leadership in Westminster should "take a good, long hard look in the mirror" to figure out the reason for the party's poor performance in the elections.

According to Reuters, the early results of the elections showed that "the Conservative Party had lost 92 council seats. The main opposition Labour Party had gained 23 seats and the Liberal Democrats 42 seats" out of almost 7,000 council seats, including those in Scotland and Wales, and the rest of England. 

The overall results of the elections due later on Friday will reveal much about the UK public opinion since the 2019 general election when the Conservative Party won the biggest majority in more than 30 years.

More pressure on Johnson

The Tory losing in key councils in London will exert more pressure on Johnson who was fined last month for violating social distancing Covid-19 rules and attending a party at Downing Street in 2020.

Johnson's "support for Brexit has cost him support in London, where a majority of voters supported staying in the European Union in the 2016 Brexit referendum," noted Reuters.

Reuters reported that Johnson's party lost the councils in Southampton, Worcester, and West Oxfordshire, adding that some Conservative council leaders called on the prime minister to resign.

Conservative leader of Carlisle city council, John Mallinson, told the BBC that "I just don't feel people any longer have the confidence that the prime minister can be relied upon, to tell the truth."