Now the dust has settled a bit on the results from ‘Super Thursday’, it’s time to take a forensic peek about what went wrong and what went right for Labour.
It’s worth noting before we start that it wasn’t all bad for Labour. Hartlepool, northern councils and Bristol were pretty disastrous, but Wales and Preston were a triumph, Labour made gains in southern councils and though some had reduced majorities, the mayoralties mostly went to Labour.
There are a lot of useful lessons to learn, and we hope (probably without foundation, but we’re optimistic sorts) that Labour will learn them.
Over the next week or so, we'll be looking in detail at the different elections and assessing what lessons can be drawn from them.
We hope they'll be of use,
Mesdames Sussex & Oxford