The narrative around the 2022 local elections looks something like this at present: Labour is strengthening their vote share in London, even taking former Tory citadels like Wandsworth and Westminster. Yet they are doing less well outside of the capital, where there is growth from the Corbyn era but it’s looking much smaller than they had hoped. If similar dynamics continue, the next general election is going to be close, probably hung parliament territory.
This makes the Lib Dem performance interesting. If the next general election is as close as today’s result, then a few seats here and there can make all of the difference to who gets to be Prime Minister. Crucially, the Tories need a majority while Labour does not. This is because they can run a minority government with the assumption that the SNP and Lib Dems will not bring them down unless it’s over something big.
What emerged from last night is how much Brexit continues to define British politics
At the time of writing, the Lib Dems have net gained more seats across England than any other party.
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