The United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative party is set to face heavy losses in the local elections that would conduct across the United Kingdom on May 5, 2022 (Thursday), in his party’s first electoral test since the ‘Partygate‘ scandal.
The municipal elections, which will decide who governs dozens of local authorities in England, Scotland and Wales and thousands of local council seats, are expected to see the Conservatives lose around 600 council seats and control of several authorities in the so-called ‘Red Wall’ of areas which returned a Conservative MP in the 2019 elections and the London suburbs.
The polls are the first election test for Johnson since he was fined for attending several office parties at the height of the lockdown measures during the first wave of the COVID pandemic.
Ever since the revelations that Johnson lied about attending the illegal gatherings, the opposition Labour party have held an opinion poll lead of between five and ten points.
The government’s popularity has also been hit by tax and energy price increases, while wage growth lags far behind inflation as millions face a cost of living crisis.
In Northern Ireland, meanwhile, the Irish republican party Sinn Fein is set to emerge as the largest party following Assembly elections which will also be held on Thursday.
