Reactions and all the latest results after Thursday’s elections in Scotland, England and Wales
- 2021 elections: results for the English local, Scottish and Welsh polls
- When to expect results from Super Thursday elections
In a blog this morning, James Forsyth, the Spectator’s political editor, argues that Sir Keir Starmer cannot just blame Labour’s defeat on Hartlepool on wider factors because decisions he took about how to contest the byelection contributed to the party’s defeat. Here’s an extract.
While there are, obviously, big structural forces at play in Labour’s defeat, some of the tactical decisions that Starmer’s team have taken have not helped either. First, they chose an MP defeated at the last election — and one who had tried to stop Brexit — as their candidate. This gave the Tories an opening to talk about that issue. Second, they decided to hold the by-election on the same days as the Tees Valley mayoral contest, allowing the relatively unknown Tory candidate to link herself to Ben Houchen, the hugely popular Tory mayor.
The problem for Starmer is that the building blocks of Labour’s traditional electoral coalition are moving ever further apart from each other. If Starmer moved further to try to win back support in seats such as Hartlepool, he would risk alienating Labour’s metropolitan base in cities such as London and Bristol — in those places, Labour is expected to win the mayoralties at a canter.
Hartlepool is yet to declare, but already there is evidence of Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour critics arguing that his leadership strategy is to blame. This is what the leftwing MP for Brighton Kempton, Lloyd Russell-Moyle, tweeted shortly after midnight.
Good to see valueless flag waving and suit wearing working so well… or not?
