Jeremy Hunt sought to manage expectations as voters head to the polls on Thursday.
Jeremy Hunt has said the Conservatives will likely suffer “significant losses” in the local elections as the party braces itself for a contest seen as the final test of public opinion before a general election.
Speculation has mounted that the prospect of a major defeat could push more Tory MPs into seeking to replace Rishi Sunak as leader and potentially trigger an early general election. The Prime Minister’s press secretary earlier did not deny a Bloomberg report that Mr Sunak told Tory staff that they could be part of the “greatest comeback in history”, in an admission of the scale of the challenge he faces.
A total of 11 mayoral contests are also taking place, including for the London mayoralty between frontrunners, Labour incumbent Sadiq Khan and Tory challenger Susan Hall. Wins for both incumbents would offer the Tories a ray of light in what forecasts suggest could be a dismal set of results, but experts warned the metro mayor races would be the “least reliable indicator” of what could happen at a general election.
“The Conservative Party is doing this because they think they might manage to win the contest and therefore they’ll be able to cover whatever disasters happen elsewhere.
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