Outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s Labour party suffered major losses on Friday in local elections and risked losing control of Scotland, but averted the crushing defeat polls had predicted.
Blair, due to make an announcement on his resignation next week, saw his ruling party face a fight to remain the largest party in the Scottish Parliament and set to lose overall control of the Welsh Assembly.
In English local elections, the national main opposition Conservatives scored gains, earning an estimated 41% of the vote, which the party said would be enough to oust Labour from power in a general election.
But Labour insisted the results could have been worse. “I’m not saying it’s been a brilliant night for Labour but it’s not been half as bad as people expected,” party chairperson Hazel Blears told BBC radio.
In Thursday’s polls, 39-million voters had the chance to have their last say on Blair, whose government has been hit by opposition to the war in Iraq and a series of scandals.
The results will be the inheritance of his likely successor, Finance Minister Gordon Brown, and a political barometer ahead of the next general election, which is due by May 2010 at the latest.
The keenly-fought contest to be the largest party in the 129-member Scottish Parliament was a two-way tussle between Labour and the centre-left Scottish National Party (SNP), which has vowed a referendum on independence if elected.
With more than half of the seats declared, the SNP had made strong gains at Labour’s expense and ousted them from key seats in Dundee West and Central Fife, which are both in Brown’s backyard.
SNP leader Alex Salmond, who won in Gordon, north-east Scotland, predicted Labour would suffer its lowest share of the vote since 1922, striking a blow to support in one of its traditional heartlands.
“There’s a wind of change blowing through Scottish politics,” he said.
In Wales, Labour was on course to remain comfortably the largest party in the 60-seat National Assembly, which has limited powers over areas like health and education, but was expected to lose overall control.
First Minister Rhodri Morgan said his Labour Party “haven’t won but haven’t exactly lost”, after Welsh nationalists Plaid Cymru and the Conservatives made gains.
In England, where about 10 500 seats were contested in 312 councils, it was unclear how much of a victory had been scored by the Conservatives as many councils have not yet begun counting.
But BBC estimates said the centre-right party got 41% of the vote, compared with 27% for Labour and 26% for the centre-left Liberal Democrats.
Conservative leader David Cameron said his party had enjoyed “a great set of results”, including some “stunning” gains.
They were now “the one national party speaking up for Britain”, he said.
Significant councils won included Britain’s second city Birmingham — Europe’s largest local authority — where it became the largest party for the first time in 24 years, and Gravesham, the last local authority in south-east England that Labour ran on its own.
The Conservatives are trying to secure an electoral bridgehead for their return to power at the national level, which they lost in 1997 to Labour.
Although they have polled well — and voters appear taken with Cameron — they are still struggling to make gains in northern English cities.
With results in from 133 councils, the Conservatives had gained 318 councillors and control of 15 councils, while Labour had lost 163 councillors and control of five authorities.
In West Lindsey in east central England, one councillor was elected on a coin toss. — AFP