If it’s not an avalanche, we’re close. The local elections held yesterday in the United Kingdom are preparing to mark a resounding defeat for the Conservatives, who have led the country continuously since 2010, for two years under the premiership of Rishi Sunak. The counting for the approximately 1,000 seats up for grabs across the country is underway and will continue until tomorrow. But the trend appears quite clear, with the Tories projected to lose around 400 seats in the country, and Labor led by Keir Starmer likely to gain around 200 instead. If it actually goes like this, it will be the hardest defeat for the Conservatives in administration for forty years. Among other things, the left-wing party also won the only parliamentary seat that was voted for in a by-election merged with the local ones, in Blackpool South. And in two large metropolitan areas such as London and Manchester, the reappointment of two Labor mayors – very different from each other – such as Sadiq Khan and Andy Burnham is expected by popular acclaim. Starmer is gloating, as he aims to take over the leadership of the country from Sunak as soon as the next general elections. Which Labor would like at this point as soon as possible, but which will arrive within a few months in any case. In fact, Parliament must be dissolved by law by next December, and elections must be held by January 2025. However, it is not excluded that the government could call them within the year, Sunak himself indicated in recent months. And if Starmer has done everything in recent years to bring Labor to more moderate positions compared to the “radical socialism” preached by his predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn, a gem with an ancient flavor comes from a small suburb of Manchester. Among those elected to the local council of Stockport, a working-class area and historic Labor stronghold, there is also a Karl Marx. His full name is actually “Karl Peter Marx Wardlaw”, but the new councilor willingly calls himself to everyone, including voters, as the German intellectual author of the Capital and (with Friedrich Engels) of Communist Party Manifesto.
