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After spectacular local election results, Theresa May, the Prime Minister, said: ‘I’m taking nothing for granted over the next five weeks. I need support from across the United Kingdom to strengthen my hand, and only a vote for me and my team will ensure that Britain has the strong and stable leadership we need.’ The Conservatives increased their number of council seats by 563. Labour lost 382 and Ukip lost all 145 it held, but gained a single one, Padiham and Burnley West, Lancashire, from Labour. In Scotland, the Conservatives became the second party to the Scottish National Party and gained seven seats in Glasgow (where Labour lost control of the city) and Paisley’s Ferguslie Park, Scotland’s poorest community. The national percentage share of the vote was: Conservatives 38; Labour 27; Lib Dem 17. Of six mayors elected, Andy Street won West Midlands and Ben Houchen won Tees Valley for the Conservatives, while the former Labour MP Andy Burnham won Manchester but refused to attend a rally held there by Jeremy Corbyn. The Conservatives failed to gain Northumberland after their candidate lost Blyth South Beach to the Lib Dem when straws were drawn to break a dead heat.
Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the Labour party, launched his general election campaign, saying: ‘We have four weeks to take our wealth back.’ He declined to say whether Britain would definitely leave the European Union when he became prime minister. The Conservatives stuck by their aim of reducing net migration to ‘the tens of thousands’ and adopted a policy espoused by Ed Miliband, when he was Labour leader, of capping energy bills. Mrs May promised a free vote on hunting. At stage-managed rallies, posters did not mention the Conservative party but ‘Theresa May’s Team’.
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