Tory analyst expects loss of 800 seats

Tory peer Robert Hayward has suggested the Conservatives can expect to lose 800 or more seats in May’s local elections due to voter frustration.

Expecting his party to lose about 500 to the Liberal Democrats, and 300 to Labour, Hayward said Theresa May’s administration’s failure to assemble a majority for the Prime Minister’s withdrawal agreement is the main reason for his poor forecast.

Predicting an unusually low turnout because of ‘disenchantment’ with the major parties, he claimed that, has a deal been agreed, ‘the Tories would have fared markedly better than they are likely to’. This mirrors recent polling carried out by Britain Thinks which suggested that 83 per cent of the public feel let down by the entire political establishment. They therefore believe that Theresa May’s party are likely to bear the brunt, with supporters staying at home or switching sides.

More than 8,300 council seats are being contested in 248 English local authorities, as well as six mayoralties, and 11 councils in Northern Ireland.

In some form, the local elections are seen as a foretaste of the potential damage awaiting at next month’s European elections, which the government had hoped to cancel.