Rishi Sunak issues statement as Tories suffer big losses in local elections

Rishi Sunak has issued a statement as local election results start to come in.

Up and down the country it’s not been a good day for the Tories so far, with the prime minister saying he has ‘heard a message’.

Locally in Greater Manchester, the Tories lost seven seats in both Bolton and Tameside, and struggled to dent Labour’s huge majority in Salford.

Meanwhile around the country, the Conservatives lost Medway Council for the first time since 1998, and the Thurrock Council leader was booted out.

Number 10 / Flickr

Sunak told Sky News: “It’s always disappointing to lose hard-working Conservative councillors, they’re friends, they’re colleagues and I’m so grateful to them for everything they’ve done.

“In terms of the results, it’s still early, we’ve just had a quarter of the results in, but what I am going to carry on doing is delivering on the people’s priorities – halving inflation, growing the economy, reducing debt, cutting waiting lists and stopping the boats.

“That’s what people want us to do, that’s what I’m going to keep hard at doing.

“Actually we’re making progress in key electoral battlegrounds like Peterborough, Bassetlaw, Sandwell. The message I am hearing tonight is that people want us to focus on their priorities, and they want us to deliver for them.”

Number 10 / Flickr

Labour’s national campaign coordinator, Shabana Mahmood, said: “These results show that we are on course for a majority Labour government.

“We have spent the whole campaign talking about Labour’s plan to tackle the Tory cost of living crisis which is the number one issue for voters. Rishi Sunak can’t talk about it because the Tories crashed the economy and they don’t know how to fix it.

“These results have been a disaster for Rishi Sunak as voters punish him for the Tories’ failure.”