Jeremy Corbyn was humiliated in Labour’s heartlands yesterday as the party lost councillors on a night it had hoped to gain hundreds.
In a disastrous set of results for an Opposition party, Labour recorded a net loss of dozens of councillors – and lost control of six councils.
The party suffered a string of stunning reverses in heartlands and Leave- voting areas such as Hartlepool and Bolsover, the local council of Left-wing firebrand Dennis Skinner.
By 7.30pm last night, Labour had recorded a net loss of more than 70 councillors.
Despite Theresa May’s extensive troubles, Labour ended up with the same national vote share as the Conservatives.
In a disastrous set of results for an Opposition party, Labour (Jeremy Corbyn is pictured left) recorded a net loss of dozens of councillors – and lost control of six councils. Despite Theresa May’s (right) extensive troubles, Labour ended up with the same national vote share as the Conservatives
As the polls closed on Thursday night, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell (pictured) was boasting that he expected Labour to win more than 400 seats
The astonishing scale of Labour’s failure came as a total shock to the party leadership. As the polls closed on Thursday night, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell was boasting that he expected Labour to win more than 400 seats.
By yesterday morning he was forced to admit the voters’ message from the local elections was: ‘Brexit – sort it.’
He added: ‘Message received.’ Mr Corbyn could only say he was ‘very sorry’ at the scale of the losses. Last night, an internal row broke out over the party’s Brexit policy, with backbench MPs saying the poor performance was because of its mixed messages on the issue.
Former Cabinet minister Ben Bradshaw said: ‘When you cower in the middle of the road on the biggest existential crisis facing Britain for generations, you get squashed.’
He once had a cunning plan to get Labour in power.
But that’s all history now, as Blackadder star Sir Tony Robinson last night quit the party over its ‘complete s***’ leadership.
The actor, who played Baldrick, said he had left Labour after 45 years because of Brexit and anti-Semitism.
Actor Tony Robinson as Baldrick in Blackadder
He described as ‘duplicity’ the party’s decision not to come down fully on the side of a second referendum.
Sir Tony has appeared in party political broadcasts for Labour and has served on its ruling National Executive Committee (NEC) from 2000 to 2004.
He tweeted: ‘I’ve left the Labour Party after nearly 45 years of service at branch, constituency and NEC levels, partly because of its continued duplicity on Brexit, partly because of its anti-Semitism, but also because its leadership is complete
