Rishi Sunak prepares for bruising elections verdict
Rishi Sunak is braced for a bruising set of local election results in the final test of public opinion before the general election expected later this year.
Forecasts suggest the Tories could lose up to half of the council seats they are defending, with Chancellor Jeremy Hunt saying the party expects to suffer “significant losses”.
Most of the seats up for re-election were last contested in 2021, at the peak of Boris Johnson’s popularity as the Covid-19 vaccine was rolled out.
A poor set of results will increase
