Local Election: Tory candidate calls Labour windfall tax 'communist'

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Some 200 local authorities in Britain are holding elections on May 5, in what many are seeing as the first vote of confidence in Boris Johnson’s leadership since partygate and the cost of living crisis. Every council seat in Scotland, Wales and London is up for grabs and there are polls across much of the rest of England. But of the thousands of seats being contested, 27 could be key to who holds power in the UK on a local scale by the time this week is out.

Many suggest partygate is having a say in how they will vote, with Labour leader Keir Starmer going hard after the Prime Minister following Mr Johnson’s fixed penalty notice for attending one of the Downing Street parties/

But in Nuneaton and Bedworth, council leader Kris Wilson said partygate had been mentioned as a turnoff by just two voters. Instead, on the ground it’s issues such as rising living costs that really matter.

Conservative peer and polling expert Lord Hayward told Sky News “the contest there is partygate versus low council tax”.

He added a switch to Labour would have implications nationwide for both main parties, saying: “The loss of Wandsworth will impact the morale of the defeated party well beyond the boundaries of London and will have implications for the leadership of either party”.

But with the polls showing Labour is still steaming well ahead of their Tory rivals, what’s really going on?

Last week, a YouGov poll gave Labour 50 percent of the vote – a staggering 27-point lead over the Conservatives on 23 percent.

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