Prime Minister Rishi Sunak issues statement after Tories are battered and bruised in local elections

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

The Prime Minister has reacted to a bruising set of local election results for the Conservative Party by saying he has ‘heard a message’.

The Tories suffered heavy defeats up and down the country. In Greater Manchester, the Tories lost seven seats in Bolton overnight.

They lost the same number in Tameside, and couldn’t dent Labour’s huge majority in Salford. Further afield, Medway Council has slipped from the Conservatives’ grasp for the first time since 1998, and the leader of Thurrock Council has been ousted. READ MORE: Join the FREE Manchester Evening News WhatsApp community It means that, despite switching Prime Minister twice since the last local election, the Conservatives are heading towards a general election year with work to do.

This morning (May 5), Rishi Sunak said the results were ‘a message’. Mr Sunak told Sky News: “It’s always disappointing to lose hard-working Conservative councillors, they’re friends, they’re colleagues and I’m so grateful to them for everything they’ve done. “In terms of the results, it’s still early, we’ve just had a quarter of the results in, but what I am going to carry on doing is delivering on the people’s priorities – halving inflation, growing the economy, reducing debt, cutting waiting lists and stopping the boats. “That’s what people want us to do, that’s what I’m going to keep hard at doing.” “Actually we’re making progress in key electoral battlegrounds like Peterborough, Bassetlaw, Sandwell.