(This one's for Salsa, our local fan of Britain's Liberal Democrats.)
A serious drubbing for Labor, a big win for Tories and a decent showing by the Liberal Democrats.
Quote:
LONDON — The Labor Party suffered its worst local election results in at least 40 years as results were declared Friday in an election that amounted to a resounding rebuke to Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s government.
Final results for 153 of the 159 local councils in which seats were being contested showed that Labor had lost 297 seats overall, and the Conservative opposition had gained 243. The BBC was projecting that Labor had taken just 24 percent of the overall vote, placing it a woeful third behind the Conservatives, with 44 percent, and the Liberal Democrats, with 25 percent.
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On top of all this, it looks like Red Ken is out as mayor of Greater London to be replaced by Boris Johnson. (Both could have come from central casting.)
I wonder how much of Labor's loss is Brown's tremendous unpopularity and how much is due to a Liberal Democrat surge predicted by our own Salsa.
Labor is lucky that this wasn't a parliamentary election. In the British system, 44 percent translates into a huge majority, and finishing in third means not even being the official opposition. Brown fought like hell to get the top Labor spot, and he looks likely to have to resign after the next general election.
05-02-2008, 03:52 PM
Liberal Democrats are number 2!
