Labour on Course for Best Performance in Local Elections in 40 Years - Poll

Local elections are scheduled to take place on May 3 in London and over 100 local authorities across the rest of England to choose councilors.

A YouGov poll by London’s Queen Mary University and the Mile End Institute found the Labour Party to be on course for its best performance in London at the local council level in 40 years, with just over 50 percent of responders saying they will be voting for Labour in next week’s election.

The poll suggests Labour will win with a 22 percent lead over the Conservative Party and, for the first time in the history of the Barnet council, Labour is expected to win a majority there.

QMUL poll: Labour set for best performance in 40 years in local elections in capital.

London – Lab 51% Con 29%
Inner city – Lab: 59%, Con: 22%
Outer city – Lab: 46%, Con: 34%

— Lucy Fisher (@LOS_Fisher) 26 апреля 2018 г.

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Theresa May’s Tory party will hold onto seats, such as Westminster and Wandsworth, which were speculated to fall to Labour, according to a separate poll.

“Despite the small increase in support for the Conservatives, the Labour party is predicted to do better than any political party has managed in London for over 40 years. Nothing in this poll indicates that next week with be anything other than a good night for Labour in London,” Phillip Cowley, a politics professor at Queen Mary University, wrote in the report.  

Although this poll shows a drop in support for Labour in comparison to a survey taken earlier this year, the fall isn’t large enough to put the party’s majority in jeopardy.

The professor went on to say that even if the Conservative Party does manage to hold onto the seats of Westminster and Wandsworth, it shouldn’t be considered a success but an “avoidance” of disaster.

“The small decline in support for Labour should mean that both Westminster and Wandsworth will be held by the Conservatives. We should however, be careful about applying a London-wide survey to individual boroughs with any certainty. Should the Conservatives manage to hold these seats, it will not be a sign of success, merely the avoidance of utter disaster," the professor added.

The survey estimates that the Liberal Democrats will obtain 11 percent of the vote, 18 percent less than the Tories, which they formerly were in a coalition government with, headed by David Cameron.

Labour is the UK's second largest political party, behind the ruling Tories, with 259 seats in the House of Commons.

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