Far-right parties in England fail in local elections. A researcher from Minho University points to three reasons for the loss of votes, stressing the “emptiness” of Brexit and economic stability as a priority.
The winners and losers in last Thursday’s local elections in England are clear. Let’s turn to the first: Labor has overtaken the Conservatives in local power for the first time since 2002, Labor has the most votes and has won the most councillors (over 600), winning three-quarters of the counties and boosting the candidacy to victory. In the general election of 2024. Good news also for the Liberal Democrats (more than 400 seats) and for the Green Party (more than 200), which exceeded expectations and crossed in these elections.
On the list of the defeated, the right goes from moderate to radical. While the Conservatives (in government) lost 960 seats, both UKIP and the UK’s Reform Radicals, both linked to Nigel Farage (a key figure in the Brexit campaign), disappeared from the map in the constituencies they contested. UKIP’s Eurosceptics lost the 25 councilors they had, and the UK Reform Party – the former Brexit party, which changed its name after the UK left the EU – managed to win only two more seats, making it six in all.
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