One silver lining on the cloud for Labour would be victory for its candidate Sadiq Khan in the London Mayoral election. He can even brush off the humiliation of coming third in the Holyrood elections because disaster for Labour in Scotland has been priced in for a good long time. At 10:35 a.m. local time, the party had taken 786 seats after about two-thirds of local councils had announced results, a net loss of 25 seats. An analysis by the BBC showed Labour’s share of the vote down by about six per cent on its 2012 result.
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“That’s something, after this week’s results, we should reflect on – the leadership of the party should reflect on – and find a way of finding a strategy and a narrative that changes the perception of the UK Labour Party across the United Kingdom so that we can go on and have a real shot at winning in 2020”.
The most closely watched race is for mayor of London – an election that may give the capital its first Muslim leader.
But he did little to quell criticism of his leadership in a party which has moved from crisis to crisis, the latest a row over anti-Semitism forcing Corbyn to suspend Livingstone.
“The clear signs are that we are doing better than a year ago, when we had a bad general election result, while the Tories have lost ground”, he said in an article for LabourList this morning.
Labour lost 13 seats, taking the party down to 24 in a result that was branded “cataclysmic” by Bassetlaw MP John Mann.
In England, Labour lost control of Dudley Council in the West Midlands, but held on to major cities including Birmingham, Newcastle upon Tyne and Sunderland, as well as key southern outposts such as Exeter, Southampton, Crawley and Slough.
While the Labour losses in England and Wales have not been as great as some predicted, Jo Cox MP, who nominated Mr Corbyn for leader, told Sky News the “clock was ticking” on his leadership.
The SNP tallied 63 seats but failed to retain an overall majority, with leader Nicole Sturgeon declaring her intention to form an “inclusive” minority government rather than seek an alliance.
In the blog post – titled, “Jeremy Corbyn and Ken Livingstone are anti Semites according to the Blairite rump of the Labour Party!”
“They are so obsessed with their left-wing causes and unworkable economic policies, they’ve forgotten that people want jobs, people want livelihoods, people want lower taxes, people want homes they live in and can afford to own”, he said. Opposition parties tend to do well soon after general elections.
Conservative Cabinet minister Chris Grayling told BBC News: “The story of tonight is the erosion of the foundations of the Labour Party”.
Keith Vaz, the chairman of the committee, said on Tuesday: “Naz Shah attended the private session of the committee today and she has informed me and the committee that she wishes to stand aside from all her duties until current matters are resolved”.
Asked if there would be a coup attempt after the referendum, she said: “I don’t accept that that’s been the idea”.
Voters are electing a Scottish Parliament and legislatures in Wales and Northern Ireland, as well as choosing members of many English local authorities.
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Responding to Mr Cameron’s call on Wednesday for Mr Corbyn to withdraw his earlier description of Hamas and Hezbollah as “friends”, Mr Bryant said: “That kind of despicable smearing of one’s opponents I think degrades the whole of politics”.
