The Conservative Party is gearing up for a challenging local election on May 4, with party chairman Greg Hands admitting that they are prepared to lose more than 1,000 seats. Despite the potential loss, Mr. Hands emphasized that these elections will focus "primarily on local issues" and highlighted Conservative priorities such as halving inflation, restoring growth, cutting debt, reducing hospital waiting lists, and stopping illegal immigration.
More than 8,000 council seats are at stake across 230 local authorities during this critical election period. While acknowledging the Tories' unfavorable national polls ratings, Mr. Hands expressed confidence in their candidates who are "fighting really hard" against Labour's expected gains.
Greg Hands also pointed out that during the last contested elections under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership of Labour Party, the Conservatives performed relatively well compared to expectations; hence now they have more ground to defend. However an Opinium survey overnight provided little comfort for Mr. Hands as it showed Keir Starmer's Labour extending its lead by 14 points over the Conservatives.
It should be noted that no elections will take place in Scotland or Wales this year due to differing schedules from England and Northern Ireland’s decision to delay their local elections until May 18th so as not to conflict with King Charles III’s coronation scheduled for May 6th.
Mr.Hands remains cautiously optimistic about upcoming electoral challenges while emphasizing his belief in focusing on key policy areas which align with voter concerns at a grassroots level: “Our commitment is unwavering when it comes down addressing pressing issues impacting our communities."