LONDON - United Kingdom Prime Minister Theresa May and her pro-hard Brexit Conservatives made significant gains in Thursday’s local elections across Britain. The party won more than 550 council seats and swept to victories in mayoral contests in the West Midlands and the Tees Valley.
Behind the raw results of the local elections, however, a potentially even more important back story is playing out that could have key consequences for UK politics. That is, Brexit is driving new positioning by some of the nation’s main parties — those with representation in England, Scotland and Wales — which could, ultimately, produce significant, new anti and pro-European Union (EU) cleavages in the electorate, potentially realigning the political map.
The main beneficiaries — so far — of this emerging development have been the Conservatives who are unifying around the government’s Brexit stance. Like May herself, this includes many former Remainers who have now switched sides to back her vision for a hard exit from the EU.
The major shift in positioning by the Tories on the EU has injured, perhaps fatally, the United Kingdom Independence Party (Ukip) whose vote collapsed on Thursday. The Ukip lost every council seat it was defending. (AP)