Badenoch admits local elections will be ‘very difficult’ for Conservatives

Kemi Badenoch has admitted that May’s local elections are “going to be very difficult” for the Conservatives.

The Tory leader told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that July’s general election was a “historic defeat” for the party.

Voters in 23 local authorities across England will go to the polls on May 1 to choose their new councillors, with mayors also up for election across six regions.

It will be the first big electoral test for the parties since last summer’s general election, and more than half of the council seats up for grabs are currently held by the Conservatives.

“These elections are going to be very difficult for the Conservatives,” Mrs Badenoch told the programme.

“Two-thirds of the seats four years ago we won – there’s no way we are going to be able to do that again.”

Nigel Farage’s Reform UK is standing more candidates next month than the Conservatives and Labour, and is contesting 99.4% of the available seats.

The party has consistently polled higher than the Tories in recent months.

Mrs Badenoch told the BBC that “protest parties are doing well at the moment”.

She added: “It’s really important that we take time to get things right – rebuild trust with the public and have a credible offer.

“I’m not saying everything we did was correct – that’s why we’ve seen support for other parties.”

Most of the council seats up for election on May 1 were last contested in May 2021 when the then-Conservative government was enjoying a boost in the polls following the Covid-19 vaccine rollout.

As of March 31, the Tories held 954 of the 1,736 seats on the ballot, or 55%, according to analysis by the PA news agency.

Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper claimed that Mrs Badenoch has “already thrown in the towel” on the polls.

“It’s up to the public to decide what issues they will be voting on at these elections, and many will be voting to deliver another message to the Conservatives on the mess in which they’ve left the country and local services,” she added.

The local elections will give a sense of whether the polling momentum for Reform is translating into votes, and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer targeted the party in a campaign visit on Tuesday.

Speaking to the BBC on a visit to a primary school in Bath, the Labour leader said: “People talk about Reform, but what have Reform actually got to offer the country beyond moaning about everything? They’ve got no answers.”

Of the 23 local authorities holding elections, 14 are county councils: Cambridgeshire, Derbyshire, Devon, Gloucestershire, Hertfordshire, Kent, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire.

Polls are also taking place in eight unitary authorities: Buckinghamshire, Cornwall, Durham, North Northamptonshire, Northumberland, Shropshire, West Northamptonshire and Wiltshire.

In addition, one metropolitan council, Doncaster, is holding an election.

There will also be a parliamentary by-election in the seat of Runcorn & Helsby in Cheshire.