Rishi’s rallying cry: Sunak insists ‘everything to fight for’ despite bloodbath for Tories in local election

4 May 2024, 00:49 | Updated: 4 May 2024, 11:32

A defiant Rishi Sunak has insisted there is “everything to fight for” despite a disastrous night for the Conservative Party in the local and mayoral elections.

Despite acknowledging a "disappointing" set of results in England, the Prime Minister remains confident saying that "Labour is not winning in places they admit they need", in a piece for the Telegraph.

“Thursday’s results showed that voters are frustrated and wondering why they should vote.

“The fact that Labour is not winning in places they admit they need for a majority shows that Keir Starmer’s lack of plan and vision is hurting them.

"We Conservatives have everything to fight for – and we will, because we are fighting for our values and our country’s future.”

As Friday's result declarations closed, the Conservatives suffered a net loss of 371 seats, and lost control of 10 councils.

Earlier that day, Mr Sunak said despite the results he "knows" that people will "stick with" the Conservatives at the general election, which is yet to be announced.

Speaking after Ben Houchen won the Tees Valley mayoral race, Mr Sunak claimed Labour had "assumed" they would emerge victorious as he accused the party of "throwing mud" in the campaign.

The prime minister has been beset by rumours about a leadership challenge recently, amid poor polling numbers ahead of a general election in the coming months.

Read more: Tories in turmoil: Where next for Rishi Sunak after 'worst local results in 40 years', writes Natasha Clark

Speaking at a rally for Mr Houchen after the results came in, Mr Sunak said: "I've got a message for the Labour Party... because they know that they had to win here in order to win a general election.

"They assumed that Tees Valley would just stroll back to them. But it didn't. It didn't. People knew that they couldn't be taken for granted.

"They knew that it was Ben and the Conservatives that delivered for them and they stuck with you in this election.

"And I know that the general election, they're going to stick with us too, because they don't want to be taken for granted and they know that it's you and it's the Conservatives that are building a brighter future for Teeside and a brighter future for Britain."

Watch Again: Nick Ferrari quizzes Tory Party Chairman Richard Holden | 03/05/24

On Friday, the Conservative chairman insisted Rishi Sunak is still the "right man" to be Prime Minister despite a "bruising" set of local election results.

Richard Holden told LBC's Nick Ferrari that the election results were "difficult".

"I genuinely think while we’re facing those tough challenges we’ve got the right man for the job," he said.

Polling expert Sir John Curtice told LBC that the results were "probably... one of the worst, if not the worst, Conservative performance in local government elections for the last 40 years.

Read more: Labour wins mayoral races in 'Rishi Sunak's backyard', York and North Yorkshire, North East, and East Midlands

"But Mr Holden said that his party should keep Mr Sunak in Downing Street, despite rumblings of discontent from backbenchers and a rumoured plan to replace him with Penny Mordaunt if the local elections went badly.

Asked by Nick if he thought that the Prime Minister should remain in post, he said "very much so", listing off the recent global and domestic problems faced by the government.

"I genuinely think while we’re facing those tough challenges we’ve got the right man for the job," he said.

The Conservatives are on course to lose 500 council seats.

Labour has won three out of three newly-created mayoral roles which have so far declared - in the North East, East Midlands and York & North Yorkshire.

Read more: Rally round Rishi: Tory chairman says PM is 'right man for the job' despite 'worst local election results for 40 years'

Sir Keir Starmer has also hailed a "seismic win" they won the Blackpool South by-election - taking the seat back from the Conservatives.

The party also took Rushmoor - known as "the home of the British Army" - despite it being run by the Tories for the past 24 years.

However, the party has undoubtedly lost votes as a result of its stance on Gaza.

Overall, Labour won control of eight councils as it saw a net gain of 204 seats, while the Liberal Democrats gained 92 seats and the Greens 58.

The Liberal Democrats' most significant victory was winning control of Dorset council from the Conservatives, where it now has 42 of the 82 seats after gaining 15.

The Greens fell narrowly short of taking overall control of Bristol, one of their top targets, despite gaining 10 seats.

Saturday's results could be further fodder to Tory rebels set on ousting Mr Sunak before the general election, should the Conservatives suffer further heavy losses.

Read more: Boris Johnson forgets ID when arriving at polling station to vote - despite introducing the rule himself