Deadlock for big political parties in UK local election

LONDON, May 4 (Xinhua) -- Britain's local elections were declared a draw Friday night after results came in from towns and cities across England.

With just one of the 150 results awaited, Labor had gained an extra 59 councilors, taking their total in England to 2310. The Conservatives lost 31 council seats in the elections, taking their total to 1330.

The big winners of the night were the minority Liberal Democrats who appeared to be finally forgiven for their spell as coalition partners with the Conservatives in David Cameron's government.

They gained 75 seats, taking their total to 536 council seats across England.

Some media commentators said the two big parties, Conservative and Labor, were deadlocked, but both prime minister Theresa May and main opposition Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn hailed the results for their respective parties.

Pollsters worked out that if the results of the local elections were applied to a national general election each of the two main parties would gain a 35 percent share of the vote.

Despite Labor predicted to do well against a government party torn by differences over the European Union and Brexit, the major gains talked about did not materialize.

Reacting to the results Corbyn said: "Labor achieved a solid set of results. We have consolidated and built on the advances we made at last year's General Election, when we won the largest increase in Labor's share of the vote since 1945.

"In these elections we have won seats across England in places we have never held before. We won Plymouth from the Conservatives, who lost control of Trafford, their flagship northern council. And Labor has won even more council seats than at our high watermark of 2014."

Corbyn said Labor had come within a whisker of winning the London borough of Wandsworth for the first time in over 40 years.

"The Labor Party is now well placed to fight and win the next General Election, and form a government that will work for the many, not the few," said Corbyn.

Labor MP Chuka Umunna called for an internal inquiry into his party's local election campaign, saying the results do not give confidence for the next national poll.

Umunna said the gains an opposition party can expect to make at this stage in the electoral cycle under a "divided and incompetent" government had not happened.

"We haven't gone forwards and if we are looking to form an election-winning majority, we cannot be confident of that happening based on the results yesterday."

He said in a radio that the whole Labor leadership had to address the failure to capitalize on government divisions, flawed Brexit negotiations and voter concern over the economy and public services.

Umunna, a long standing critic of the current Labor leadership, added: "From a Labor point of view there needs to be a proper post-mortem - I think the National Executive Committee should appoint somebody to do that -- on this result."

In Wandsworth, where the Conservatives hung on to control, May was in a more buoyant mood.

She told party workers: "Labor thought they could take control, this was one of their top targets and they threw everything at it, but they failed."

She laughed off a suggestion that she should call a snap general election. She did that last year, and lost her overall majority in the House of Commons.

Former Conservative leader Lord Michael Howard said the results show May needs to do the right thing for the country, adding: "and I believe the right thing is a clean Brexit. For me that means coming out of the customs union and the single market."

The leader of the minority Liberal Democrats, Sir Vince Cable said he was delighted with the gains his party made in Thursday's election.

The party has been virtually left on the fringes of national politics, seen as a punishment for its five years as a partner in a coalition government with the Conservatives.

Cable said: "It's certainly the beginning of the comeback of the Liberal Democrats. Morale is now very high. We have demonstrated that we can win when we are focused and we can only build on that."

The biggest losers were UKIP, independent party set up to campaign for Britain to quit the EU.

They lost over 120 of their seats in council chambers, and were left with just a small handful, 3 at the last count. Enditem