A bad night for both major parties in local elections, but Labour fared worse

The Tories lost the most seats in the local elections — but it was a worse night for Labour.  Even without the failure to deliver Brexit, their main and indeed only national policy, this

unpopular Government was always going to take a mid-term drubbing. For the Opposition to suffer substantial losses, however, implies that the country has taken a closer look at Jeremy Corbyn

since the last general election. And it does not like what it sees.

That 2017 election marked a high-water mark for the two-party system. The Conservatives took 42.3 per cent and Labour took 40 per cent of the votes; their combined total of 82.3 per cent was

the highest since 1970. Now, it seems, the pendulum has begun to swing away from the two main parties, with the likelihood that neither of them will emerge as the largest party in the

European election in less than three weeks.

The Liberal Democrats did well in the local elections, but their gains should be seen against a background of decline in recent years. This time, they seem to have reverted to their

traditional role in local government as the default choice of disgruntled Conservative voters — though many have also turned to Independents. Labour’s lurch to the Left has undoubtedly

helped the Lib Dems. Their success should not be seen as a vote for a second referendum, though it undoubtedly will be in Remain circles. Still less is it an endorsement of Sir Vince Cable’s

lacklustre leadership. He is stepping down soon and is unlikely to be missed.

The most important lesson of the local elections is that far-Left, tax-and-spend, ideologically-driven politics is as unappealing even to Labour voters as it ever was. The evidence of

extremist, anti-Semitic and unpatriotic ideas extending right up to the top of the Labour Party is now hard to ignore. The sight of John McDonnell, the Shadow Chancellor, at a May Day rally

in Trafalgar Square this week, relaxed next to a banner showing Lenin, Stalin and Mao was a vintage image. In four short years a party that once prided itself on holding firm against

infiltration has been taken over by the kind of fanatics who were banished to the fringes of British politics throughout the Cold War.

And yet the latest Westminster convulsion — which began with a Cabinet split over whether the word of Huawei should be trusted and ended with the Prime Minister losing trust in the word of

the Defence Secretary— shows that the divisions and dilemmas of the past have never really gone away. We are still faced with intermittently hostile foreign powers and they still have their

fellow-travellers here. Our European allies seem to be succumbing to the blandishments of Russian energy and Chinese technology. Our American allies demand that we resist these totalitarian

temptations. The country must be able to trust the Government to protect the national interest — but how do we define it?

Such considerations are remote from those of communities more concerned about how often their bins will be collected or which birds farmers should be allowed to shoot. Yet local tremors are

often the first sign of seismic national upheavals. The media have latched onto the “Brexit backlash” and there is certainly rage and despair on both sides. By the end of this month,

however, we will have a much clearer idea of how far the electorate is disillusioned with both major parties.

“A plague o’ both your houses,” declares the dying Mercutio, reflecting a sentiment that many people will have felt about our own Montagus and Capulets. Disgusted as the electorate is with a

weak and divided Tory Government, however, on the evidence of this week voters don’t think that Labour would be any better. Indeed, it rather looks as though the country has already decided

that it will not install Jeremy Corbyn in Downing Street at any price.

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