Things look bleak for the Tories

Thursday’s local elections almost inevitably produced a cacophony of information. That presented the parties with plenty of opportunity to cherry pick results that appeared to present their performance in a better light – thereby potentially distracting attention from less convincing performances.

If Reform had fought these local elections more widely, the picture might have looked even bleaker for the Conservatives

As the results gradually flowed in, the Conservatives pursued this strategy with vigour. They trumpeted their successful defence of the Tees Valley mayoralty. And they pointed out that Labour had failed to gain overall control of one of their target councils, Harlow. Unfortunately, that strategy came rather unstuck on Saturday evening when the results of the West Midlands mayoralty came in and the party’s standard bearer, Andy Street, lost out – albeit by the narrowest of margins.

There was, it seems, not so much to cherry pick after all.

In truth, despite the variety of contests and circumstances, the message for the Tories is much the same across the various and varied contests that took place on Thursday.