UK Conservatives take battering in key local elections

By JILL LAWLESS
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s Conservative Party endured big losses in local elections being viewed as a test of support for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government as a national election approaches. The opposition Labour Party and Liberal Democrats made significant gains. The Conservatives acknowledged it had been a “disappointing” election. Results announced Friday showed voters appeared to punish the Conservatives for the turmoil that engulfed the party under former Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his successor Liz Truss. The Conservatives lost hundreds of seats in elections for more than 8,000 seats on 230 local councils across England. The BBC projected that if the results were replicated nationally, Labour would have a nine-point lead, likely enough to win a majority in Parliament.