2024-05-06 09:17:33
Conservative party loses 10 out of 11 regional government seats
Local council seats also decreased by nearly half… Even within the party, there is dissatisfaction with snack leadership.
When the Labor Party won the general election, it returned to power for the first time in 14 years.
Mayor Khan, who is likely to become Prime Minister Starmer, also pays attention
The ruling Conservative Party suffered a crushing defeat in the British local elections on the 2nd, which were considered a prelude to the general election, and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (pictured) faced his biggest crisis since taking power in October 2022. The main opposition party, the Labor Party, which won a landslide victory, gathered momentum and demanded “an early general election.” Even within the Conservative Party, dissatisfaction with Prime Minister Sunnack is exploding.
The UK must hold a general election by January 28th next year. Prime Minister Sunnack only said, “It will be implemented in the second half of this year,” but did not mention the exact time. However, if the current atmosphere continues, there is a high possibility that the Conservative Party will relinquish power no matter when the general election is held. The Associated Press and others also analyzed that the possibility of the Labor Party taking power for the first time in 14 years since former Prime Minister Gordon Brown (in power from 2007 to 2010) has increased.
Prime Minister Sunnack said on the 4th, “I am disappointed with the election results, but my determination to move forward with (my) plan has doubled,” but his leadership has suffered significant flaws. Tim Bale, a political science professor at Queen Mary University of the United Kingdom, told the New York Times, “Prime Minister Sunnack has become almost like a zombie,” and added, “His situation looks like a Dead Man Walking (the last steps of a death row inmate).” .
● Conservative party, group leaders and local councils all suffered crushing defeats
This election was an election to elect the heads of 11 metropolitan governments, including the mayor of London, and 2,655 members of 107 local councils. According to the BBC on the 4th, the Conservative Party won only one seat, Tees Valley, in the 11 regional head elections. The Labor Party swept the remaining 10 places, including London and Liverpool.
The Conservative Party’s performance in local councils is also dismal. He won 986 seats in the local elections three years ago, but this time he lost 473 seats, close to half, dropping to a total of 513 seats. During the same period, the Labor Party secured 1,140 seats, an increase of 185, and the center-left Liberal Democratic Party also secured 521 seats, an increase of 104 seats.
When it comes to local councils, the Conservative Party has fallen to the third largest party. The BBC estimated that if this election’s vote rate was converted to a national level, the Conservative Party would be at a record low of 25%, and the Labor Party would be at 34%. Sky News also predicted that if the general election is held as is, the Labor Party will become the largest party in the National Assembly.
Many analyzes say that the Conservative Party’s crisis stems from its failure to resolve the aftermath of Brexit in 2016, or Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union (EU). The party has faced division and confusion ever since the resignation of former Prime Minister David Cameron, who submitted Brexit to a referendum. In 2022, the Prime Minister has changed three times in one year alone, including Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, and the current Prime Minister Sunnack.
Prime Minister Sunnack, who attracted attention as the first Indian-origin and non-white prime minister, was unable to resolve the economic crisis, especially in addition to the political chaos. After the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, high prices became entrenched, and Brexit blocked the flow of cheap labor and products from Eastern Europe. Accordingly, the economy also fell into a ‘recession’, showing negative growth for two consecutive quarters in the third and fourth quarters of last year.
He was criticized by the Labor Party for his policy of deporting refugees to Rwanda, Africa. They are struggling both internally and externally, including at odds with hardliners within the party by pushing for a bill to make those born after 2009 into the ‘non-smoking generation’. The BBC analyzed that 26% of voters who voted for the Conservative Party in the 2019 general election moved to Labor.
● Sadiq Khan, the first ‘three-term mayor of London’, also pays attention
If Labor wins the next general election, it is currently highly likely that leader Keir Starmer will become prime minister. However, Pakistani Mayor Sadiq Khan (54), who became the first mayor of London to serve three terms in this election and has high national recognition, is also attracting attention as a representative politician of the Labor Party. Mayor Khan, who promised free school meals at public elementary schools, won 43.7% of the vote in this election, beating Conservative Party candidate Susan Hall (32.7%).
Mayor Khan is a ‘dirt spoon politician’ whose father is a bus driver and his mother is a sewing worker. There is also a model in which former Prime Minister Johnson became Prime Minister after being re-elected as Mayor of London. In his victory speech, he emphasized the clarity of the left, saying, “I will reject right-wing populism such as anti-immigration.” According to the Guardian, etc., unlike Starmer, who was lukewarm about the demand to “stop providing weapons to Israel,” he, a Muslim, was the first major Labor Party politician to call for a “ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.”
Reporter Kim Bora [email protected]
Reporter Yunjin Kim [email protected]
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2024-05-06 09:17:33