The stunning reverses suffered by Britain’s Labour Party in local elections do not bode well for the party’s electoral chances in the 2010 general elections. Labour has won 18 of the 159 councils. The Conservative Party has put in a superlative performance winning 65 councils. In terms of vote share, the Tories have won 44 per cent of the votes, followed by the Liberal Democrats with 25 per cent and Labour with 24 per cent. To add insult to injury, Labour’s mayoral candidate in London, Ken Livingston, who has been the city’s mayor since 2000 has been defeated by the Conservatives’ Boris Johnson, a political lightweight likened by many to a buffoon.

This is the Labour Party’s worst electoral performance in 40 years. The Conservatives have notched up the kind of support Labour enjoyed two years before Tony Blair swept to power. The defeat is a huge setback for Prime Minister Gordon Brown. This was the first electoral test his party was facing after he took over the reins as Prime Minister last year and it has performed disastrously. Brown has blamed the difficult economic circumstances for the party’s electoral defeat. But as the man who has been in charge of the British economy for a decade, he cannot escape some responsibility for the state of affairs.

The Conservatives are on the comeback trail. Labour will be tempted to seek solace in the fact that local elections cannot be equated to general elections. Indeed, issues in the two elections vary as does voter participation. Besides, Labour will lean on the hope that in 2004 its performance in local elections was dismal; yet it went on to win the general election the following year. However, the party cannot take things lightly. The losses it suffered in the local elections indicate that over hundred MPs are in danger of losing their seats in the general election.

Besides, it cannot equate the situation in 2005 to that today. When Britain went to the polls in 2005, many voted for Blair as there was no credible alternative. Today, there is an alternative to Brown in the Conservative Party’s David Cameron. He is young and charismatic and represents the change the British voter is looking for.
With two years to go before elections, there is enough time for Labour to recover lost ground. But doubts are growing over Brown’s capability to bring about the turnaround in electoral fortunes. His leadership will come under fire in the coming months.