On Thursday 3 May 2018, nearly 1 year on from Theresa May’s snap general election, local elections took place across London and in 118 other local councils across parts of England — the first real electoral test since the general election. Local election results offer a partial picture of party support in England only and are a notoriously unreliable forecast of the parties’ fortunes in a general election. In 2017, Labour polled 27% in local elections just weeks before achieving 40% in the general election. Local issues such as bin collections may be more on voters’ minds than the high politics of Brexit. Nevertheless, they offer a glimpse of where the main parties and party leaders stand 1 year after the general election and how Brexit continues to shape the national and local picture.
After the shock surge in support for Labour in last June’s general election the party was expected to do well, but it failed to win overall control of any new councils. Labour missed its target of winning the Conservative flagship, low-tax London councils of Westminster and Wandsworth. As in 2017, Labour did well with young, urban Remain voters in London, but failed to take target councils in pro-Leave Basildon, Nuneaton and Derby.
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