{"id":10446,"date":"2024-05-02T16:00:44","date_gmt":"2024-05-02T13:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=10446"},"modified":"2024-05-02T16:00:44","modified_gmt":"2024-05-02T13:00:44","slug":"voters-head-to-polls-in-last-test-for-sunak-before-national-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=10446","title":{"rendered":"Voters head to polls in last test for Sunak before national election"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/voters-head-to-polls-in-last-test-for-sunak-before-national-election.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"><\/div>\n<p>English voters headed to polling stations on Thursday to pick mayors, councillors and a new lawmaker in the last electoral test for British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak before a national vote later this year.<\/p>\n<div class=\"cypru-video-ads\" id=\"cypru-1936792561\">\n<div id=\"cypru-1602456053\" data-cypru-trackid=\"478051\" data-cypru-trackbid=\"1\" class=\"cypru-target\">\n<div id=\"gpt-ad-6728308883612-0\">\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Expectations among the governing Conservatives are low, but Sunak hopes his party will retain at least one mayoralty to help stem calls for him to quit before the parliamentary election, which he says will likely take place in the\u00a0second half\u00a0of 2024.<br \/>\nWhile governing parties often struggle in local polls, the expected Conservative losses in councils and a parliamentary by-election in the northern English town of Blackpool will boost opposition Labour\u2019s hopes for a sweeping victory at the national election.<br \/>\n\u201cWe are expecting to see significant losses,\u201d finance minister Jeremy Hunt told Sky News on Wednesday. \u201cIf you want better public services\u2026 and lower taxes, then you should vote Conservative tomorrow.\u201d<br \/>\nLabour leader Keir Starmer said his party needed to make gains in Thursday\u2019s elections, which cover more than 2,600 council seats and 11 mayors across England as well as 37 police and crime commissioners in England and Wales.<br \/>\n\u201cWe have to show that people have the confidence and the trust to vote for this changed Labour Party,\u201d he said.<br \/>\nThe local polls will offer the last glimpse of voting patterns before the UK national election, which opinion polls say the Conservatives are set to lose. A YouGov\/Times voting intention poll put the Conservatives on just 18% \u2013 their lowest level since 2019 \u2013 against Labour\u2019s 44%.<br \/>\n<strong>\u2018CAMPAIGNING FOR EVERY VOTE\u2019<\/strong><br \/>\nLabour looks set to overturn the Conservative majority in the parliamentary constituency of Blackpool South, but party officials do not expect to oust the high-profile Conservative mayor, Ben\u00a0Houchen, in Tees Valley in northeast England. Another mayoral contest in the West Midlands, where Conservative Andy Street has been in power since 2017, looks tight.<br \/>\nSunak\u2019s team hopes that keeping Tees Valley and possibly the West Midlands too will stifle calls from some in his restive party for his resignation. They fear electoral annihilation under Sunak\u2019s leadership at the national election.<br \/>\n\u201cWe are rightly out campaigning for every vote,\u201d Sunak\u2019s press secretary told reporters on Wednesday, listing what she called his recent successes such as promising to raise\u00a0defence spending\u00a0and passing a new law to send illegal asylum seekers to\u00a0Rwanda.<br \/>\nShe said Sunak had campaigned with both mayors when asked about\u00a0Houchen\u00a0and Street\u2019s attempts to\u00a0distance\u00a0themselves from the Conservatives, instead promoting their personal brand.<br \/>\n\u201cEven the mayors that he\u2019s pinning his political survival on don\u2019t want to be seen anywhere near him,\u201d Starmer told parliament on Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>English voters headed to polling stations on Thursday to pick mayors, councillors, and a new lawmaker in the last electoral test for British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak before a national vote later this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":10447,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1794,2726,461,8679,1498,838,5443,21,3,4186,1600,153,8680,3251,4818,569,518,250,3330,839,5865,5679,148,3829,4086,5444,3331,634,1799,7378,5328,184,1215,1892,5863,1004,1792,6947,2065,1958,6471,1806,6397,3480,840,3773,1230,1183,1681,494,4560,1774,1379,2343,2831],"class_list":["post-10446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other","tag-asylum","tag-asylum-seekers","tag-british","tag-british-prime-minister","tag-confidence","tag-conservatives","tag-councillors","tag-crime","tag-cyprus","tag-defence-spending","tag-election","tag-elections","tag-electoral-test","tag-england","tag-expectations","tag-finance","tag-finance-minister","tag-google","tag-google-news","tag-labour","tag-labour-party","tag-law","tag-local","tag-local-polls","tag-mayor","tag-mayors","tag-news","tag-opinion","tag-parliament","tag-parties","tag-party","tag-police","tag-poll","tag-polling-stations","tag-polls","tag-power","tag-prime-minister","tag-public-services","tag-resignation","tag-rishi-sunak","tag-rwanda","tag-services","tag-sky-news","tag-spending","tag-starmer","tag-sunak","tag-survival","tag-taxes","tag-trust","tag-uk","tag-victory","tag-vote","tag-voters","tag-voting","tag-wales"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"<!-- 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