What we get wrong about local elections

Friday morning’s headlines can pretty much already be written: Conservatives suffer heavy losses in local elections; a humbled Boris Johnson addresses the nation saying that lessons have been learned; backbench MPs resume plotting, trying to decide whether to move now or in a few months’ time. Former Tory voters will be feeling pleased with themselves that they have left the government with a bloody nose, and who knows? Maybe it will be the jolt that succeeds in getting the government to concentrate on what really matters at the moment – the cost of living crisis – and to stop faffing around with other things.

But there will be a very disagreeable outcome, too. Our councils will be lumbered with a load of councillors who have been elected not because they have any bright ideas about how to handle bin collections or visionary planning policies but because they provided a convenient opportunity to register a protest vote against the government.