Is Andy Street heading for defeat?

Next month’s local elections will be the last significant encounter with voters before a general election, likely later this year. So far, the talk is that heavy losses for the Tories are ‘priced in’ – with the party expected to lose about half of the Tories up for re-election. As I previously reported, senior conservatives are talking up the fate of the two metro mayors – Andy Street in the West Midlands and Ben Houchen in Tees Valley – as what will decide if it goes from being a bad night to a terrible one. As one former cabinet minister puts it: ‘Andy losing the Midlands is very difficult. Ben losing would be nuclear’.

A new Redfield and Wilton poll suggests Street is at risk to do just that. The Conservative mayor of the West Midlands is 14 points behind his Labour rival – polling at 28 per cent, compared to 42 per cent for his Labour rival Richard Parker.