UK local elections: Conservatives battered as Labour surges

By JILL LAWLESS
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s Conservative Party endured a drubbing in local elections that delivered a warning to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government, and a boost to the opposition, 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 more than 1,000 seats in elections for more than 8,000 seats on 230 local councils across England. The BBC projected that Labour would have a nine-point lead if the results were replicated nationally.