They use this Phrase Country first, party second. Keir starmers argument is he has to behave as he sees a british Prime Minister should and hes taking the stance that he would as Prime Minister. But there is no doubt there is evidence to suggest that that has been difficult for labour in some places, particularly those with a significant muslim population. Theres a prominent independent candidate, as you say, here in this contest, who has had a particular view on the conflict and the uk governments outlook on the conflict. And its a point of difference with the labour party. Now the question is, speaking to labour folk here, to what extent are they former labour voters going in the direction of an independent or people who might be motivated to vote for the independents who would have not backed labour otherwise . We shall see. The other factor here that is acknowledged by labour is that the local authority, the council here in birmingham, not the whole region by a long chalk, but the
Positives and areas where they have managed to hold control of councils, potentially some of the mayor raises my give them a bit of a Silver Lining but on the whole, the great picture is pretty bleak for the tories. Let me show you this. First of all, this is the vote share compared to 2021 when the seats were last contested. In 2021, Boris Johnson got a bit of around two bounce after the Vaccine Roller but look what happened since. The change in the last three years. That is the tory vote change, down 14 . That is pretty big. Its worth looking through some councils when the conservatives used to be in power but are not any more because of this. Have a look here at redditch. This is a Bellwether Seat and we said that all morning and an area with the parties think the result is pretty indicative of how the country is feeling. Look at that. The conservatives have lost 11 seats, labour won ten and it means this long line of blue down here is done. This is now a labour controlled council.
The big message from the local ballot boxes so far is that The Conservatives remain in deep electoral trouble. Hi, good evening, its friday night, and we have a top Newsnight Panel for you tonight. Polling guru professor sirjohn curtice. Our own Political Editor nick watt. Emma barr, former conservative special advisor. And stephen bush from the financial times, who is an expert on labour. Now four of the five biggest vote swings in by elections from conservatives to labour have happened in the last year under sir keir starmer including Blackpool South yesterday. However not one further conservative mp has publicly called for rishi sunak to go, despite his party being, according to the experts, in deep electoral trouble. It was a very good night for labour, but theres an acknowledgement that some voters have deserted the party over its stance on gaza. All that and more to come. First, nick, pollsters say these results are bad for The Conservatives. Where does it leave rishi sunak . fi
For Central Suffolk and North Ipswich since the 2010 election. He combines his political career with Practising Medicine as an nhs Hospital Doctor on a part time basis. He confirmed he was defecting to labour in an interview with Laura Kuenssberg take a listen. And it increasingly difficult to look my patients, nhs colleagues and constituents in the eye. I feel the ifeel the nhs i feel the nhs deserves ifeel the nhs deserves better i feel the nhs deserves better in the terms of how it is governed. The conservatives had a compassionate view about supporting the more disadvantaged in society. I think the Conservative Party today is in a very different place. Its focus is not on delivering or supporting high quality public services. With me is our Political Correspondent ben wright. Tell is about who dan poulter is on the significance of his defection. He represents Central Suffolk and North Ipswich. Hejoined the party under david cameron. He is very much of cameron conservative, he is at