Just over a third of councils have declared so far and the results so far look set to shake up the political dynamics in some of England's major cities.
The Liberal Democrats have had a bad night – as John Leech, Lib Dem MP for Manchester Withington tweeted last night, the party has taken a ‘real kicking.’ There are crumbs of comfort, with the Lib Dems holding on to Eastleigh and Portsmouth, for example, and Newcastle is still to announce. But the Liberal Democrats have been replaced as the largest party in Sheffield by Labour, ceded 11 seats in Liverpool to Labour, and lost overall control of Hull, Bristol and Stockport. Some of the big names in local government have lost seats too, such as Carl Minns, former Liberal Democrat Leader of the Council in Hull.
So far, it looks like the Conservatives are holding their own, with a small gain in seats so far. BBC predictions have the Conservatives set to hold 35% of the total share, Labour at 37% and the Liberal Democrats at 15%.
Labour has had a reasonable night. They lost – on a large scale - to the SNP in Scotland, but they have won in Wales, gained control of some significant councils in England, including Bolton, and it looks likely that Sir Peter Soulsby will become Leicester's first elected mayor.
So what are some of the implications of all this for UK cities?
First, there are national implications for the coalition, which has been strained by the election campaigning over the past few weeks. A couple of local leaders have called for Nick Clegg to resign - will this grow as the results of the AV referendum come in as the expected resounding ‘No’, or will leaders, as in Sheffield, stand by him? If local dissatisfaction with party leadership continues, you may see the Lib Dem grassroots taking more of a stand against government policy and making it even more challenging for the coalition to operate.
Second, it suggests that far more of the larger cities will be Labour controlled – which makes the Government emphasis on localism even more interesting, especially when you consider that polls like that conducted by CBRE suggest that more than 90% of Labour councillors oppose the Localism Bill. And will the Government feel happy that decentralisation will result in the outcomes they are looking for? Will the divide between the northern - and increasingly Labour - cities and the south grow further?
There are more results to come and it’s only over the next few weeks and months that we’ll really start to realise what this really means. But it’s a pivotal point for the coalition and will have a big impact on how cities work with the Government in the years ahead.
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