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Blair suffers big poll defeat
05/05/2006 07:41 - (SA)
London - English voters dealt British Prime Minister Tony Blair a major blow as results on Friday showed his Labour Party had lost seats in local elections, prompting a minister to predict a cabinet shake-up.
Amid accusations of incompetence and sleaze in the last few
weeks, analysts say very poor results could hasten Blair's
departure. He has said he will quit before the next general
election, due in 2010, but has not set a date.
"It's not a good night for us, it's a poor night," cabinet
minister John Reid told BBC television.
"But when you look at the share of the vote at the moment it
looks as though it's very much the status quo for us."
Scandals
Critics have attacked Blair in the last two weeks over the
failure to consider deporting foreign prisoners, hospital staff
cuts and his married deputy's admission that he had an affair.
Cabinet member Geoff Hoon said he expected Blair to shake up
his team on Friday in a bid to give his government new impetus.
"This seems to be about the right time, it is time for a new
team to take over," Hoon told BBC television. "There is going to
be a (cabinet) reshuffle, I am sure," he added.
Results so far
Some 4 360 seats on 176 local councils in England were
contested on Thursday. The loss of many more than 200 seats
would be seen as a bad result for Labour, analysts say.
With results in from 140 councils, Labour had lost 192 seats
compared with 204 gains for the opposition Conservatives and two
losses for the Liberal Democrats, Britain's third party.
Heavy losses in London
"It's a bad night for Labour but it's not meltdown," said
John Curtice, politics professor at Strathclyde University.
But Labour was braced for heavy losses in London, where the
party had a reasonably good showing in the last council
elections in 2002, before the Iraq war which tarnished Blair.
Voters traditionally use local elections to punish the
government of the day and very poor results could increase calls
from within Labour for Blair to name a departure date or hand
power to his presumed successor, Finance Minister Gordon Brown.
Test for Tories
The poll was also a crucial test for the Conservatives under
new leader David Cameron who is trying to transform his party
into a modern, caring political force and drag it out of the
wilderness after three straight election defeats.
Results so far showed the Conservatives gaining at the
expense of both Labour and the Liberal Democrats.
"This is a good start," Conservative chairman Francis Maude
told BBC television. "We are continuing to build our support
while Labour's melts away."
The far-right British National Party made gains in east
London.
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