Local elections in May will give a strong pointer to likely results of a national poll next year, according to a leading analyst.
Conservative peer Lord Hayward said the ‘sheer scale’ of the local elections will give ‘clear indications’ of where the main political parties will stand as preparations begin for the next general election.
In England voters will go to the polls in 179 district authorities, 30 unitaries and 33 metropolitan districts, while directly elected mayors will also face the electorate. In Northern Ireland elections will take place in all local authorities. Lord Hayward warned the Conservatives that they will need to make gains in ‘remain-oriented, middle class’ areas.
He said: ‘This coming local election cycle is the biggest of the four yearly cycles in that there are about 7,000 seats up, overwhelmingly in England, but not in London, and also in Northern Ireland.'
He said that for the Conservative Party to build a good base for the next general election it will need to make gains in the kind of ‘remain-oriented, middle class, private sector, well-educated seats that you find in Surrey, Hertfordshire, Warwickshire, Cheshire'.
