The British vote in local elections today is a measure of the popularity of prime minister Rishi Sunak. And while local themes are central to these elections, they have great predictive value for the national elections that are likely to be held late next year. It seems that the Conservatives are going to lose, the only question is how bad.
While local issues such as garbage collection or a new Neighbourhood Center are central to these elections, they are considered an important litmus test for prime minister Sunak. How popular is he anyway? After the position of his predecessor Liz Truss became untenable, Rishi Sunak was elected by members of his Conservative party last year. And now voters can speak out about him for the first time. It is an important indicator.
A theme that recurs in almost every locality is the quality of the water. The British coasts and rivers are among the most polluted in Europe, if not the worst. The culprits are agriculture and privatised water companies. Waste is discharged and water is hardly purified. Angry Britons are campaigning because they can no longer fish or swim wild, because they literally swim in the shit.
The salient fact is that the Conservatives have traditionally handed out the sheets in the countryside and are therefore vulnerable to electoral punishment. Of course, Labour laughs in its fist. It seems that the Conservatives are going to lose, the question is how hard’ The magic number of 1000 is singing around: if Labour wins that number of seats in the local elections, then the party has a good chance of winning the national elections that are likely to be held at the end of next year.
