A drubbing or a triumph: What do the local election results really mean?

The story of these local elections will overwhelmingly be one of Conservative decline, rather than Labour gains, writes Patrick English

As far as Keir Starmer is concerned, the results were very much a mixed bag (Reuters)

Such was the order and timing with which the results trickled in overnight on Thursday, that the Conservatives were perhaps lulled into a false sense of security early on in the counting of this year’s local election results. Tory MPs in TV studios appeared visibly buoyed by the figures they were seeing in the small hours, with areas such as Amber Valley and Hartlepool even showing signs of Conservative growth, while Labour struggled to advance.

But as Thursday moved into Friday, and then Friday evening arrived, what looked to perhaps be an almost palatable set of results for the Conservatives eventually descended into a drubbing. A total of almost 500 council seat losses makes this year their second-worst performance at any local election since 1996 (the highest being 2019).

Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats celebrated enormous success, taking well over 200 seats off their opponents to top the “seats gained” scoreboard. Similarly, the Green Party significantly grew their presence on local councils up and down the country, winning from Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives.