Rishi Sunak Faces Final Trial by Fire in UK General Elections: What You Need to Know

British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunakfacing his final trial by fire in the presence of the general elections there United Kingdom, scheduled for the end of the year. More than 2,600 councilors – less than 20% of the total – will be elected this Thursday in 107 local governments in England, as well as 37 police commissioners and 10 mayors, including London. The outcome of these elections will be decisive in measuring Sunak’s support among voters almost two years after his election. office as prime ministeras well as trust within his own party.

The latest surveys confirm an upward trend Labor Partywho already received a good result in the last local elections, which was held last year to select more than 8,000 other consultants. Elections put it again as the party with the largest number of representatives for the first time since 2002, with 35% of the totalin front of 33% of the Conservative Party. The Labor Party won more than 500 councilors that time and everything is a sign that they will extend this advantage after the election this Thursday, with “important benefits” in the north and in the middle of the country, according to the latest poll released by YouGov.

Mayor involved

The main focus will be on the two mayors which are still in Tory hands, in areas of the West Midlands – which include a large town of Birmingham– and Tees Valley, in north-east England. Both mayors have tried to distance themselves from their own party to try to achieve re-election, although polls predict that modified product in both cases. As well as debating the Conservative vote in those two mayoralties, as well as in the three newly created mayoralties, Labor is set to retain power in the five major metropolitan areas which they already control, incl Liverpool, Manchester y London.

As for the British capital, the latest polls give the current mayor, Labor Sadiq Khan, a comfortable lead over conservative Susan Hall. According to a YouGov poll, Khan would get a 47% of the votes compared to 25% of his main rival, which opens the door to a third term at the end of the Greater London Authorityone of the institutions with the most weight and power in the country, with an annual budget of more than 20 billion pounds per year (23,000 million euros). Khan, the son of Pakistani immigrants, has been one of the most critical voices within the Labor Party against Israel’s bombing of Gaza, something that has won him support among the Muslim population.

Despite the difficulty of extrapolating the results of these elections to a national level – participation in the 2023 local elections was 32%, compared to 67% in the 2019 general elections – the main demographic institutions indicate that the employees they would get equal to a 40% of the votes nationwidecompared to less than 30% of conservatives, who saw how the good results achieved in the 2021 local elections have diminished in just three years, after the ‘Partygate’ scandal and the Liz Truss’ exchange rate is down 44 days after taking office as prime minister.

Rebellion within

If he loses the two main mayoralties still in Tory hands and repeats last year’s election debate – with the loss of more than 1,000 councilors – Sunak is likely to face his a new revolution within within his party. The Prime Minister has tried to regain the trust of the voters with the approval of the law to protect exports to Rwanda and the implementation of the first immigration arrest this week, but some members of the hard wing have questioned the effectiveness of the measure and the ability of the conservative leader to come back in the polls.

Part of the party, including the former Minister of the Interior Suella Braverman or the former Secretary of State for Immigration Robert Jenrickeager to open the debate on a who could replace the conservative director before the general elections. Possible to look distant for now, but that could gain strength in the coming days if the election predictions come true.