The local elections have not left the Tories in crisis – yet

The Conservatives have, as predicted, had a pretty awful night, but is there any comfort they can draw from the local election results? True, the next general election now seems to be lost – the public has simply made up its mind that the Tories have been in power for too long and that it is time for a change. But if you are a Conservative strategist peering through a pair of rose-tinted spectacles this is what you might see.

Firstly, the Tory party has clung onto Harlow council – a town which was so much in Labour’s crosshairs that it was one of Keir Starmer’s final points of call in the campaign. When Tony Blair won his first landslide in 1997 it was the new towns around London which saw some of the biggest swings. Negative equity among young voters who had come a cropper by buying into the Tories’ home-ownership dream was a big factor then.