The Conservatives expect to lose swathes of voters in Thursday's local elections, with Labour also fearing they will underperform thanks to Brexit.
Brits go to the polls for a crucial set of local elections on Thursday.Candidates from the Conservatives, Labour and other parties will contest 8,200 seats.Labour figures believe that their party will underperform.LONDON — Both the Conservative party and Labour fear a disappointing set of results as voters go to the polls in the first major set of elections since Theresa May's decision to delay Brexit.
The polls opened at 07:00 and will close at 22:00, with most results expected to be announced in the early hours of Friday morning and continuing through until late on Friday afternoon. Here's everything you need to know.The Conservatives' biggest concern is that significant numbers people who have almost always voted for them past elections are going to ditch them on Thursday out of frustration with May's handling of Brexit.
Lammas added that the Tories would be in even"more trouble" had Nigel Farage's Brexit Party been standing in his ward, as"so many people have said they will vote for Farage" in his conversations with lifelong Conservative voters. "People who say they've voted Tory all their lives have turned around to me and said 'I'm just not going to go out and vote… I'm really sorry but I feel like I need to send out some sort of message'."He told Business Insider that while people were"angry" and"very disatisfied" with May's handling of Brexit,"I don't think we are going to go backwards. I don't think we are going to lose many if any seats.
"Local elections haven't been that kind to us in recent years and given the chaos of the government and complete mishandling of Brexit I would expect a strong showing for Labour — but it's not clear to me that what will happen," Labour MP Bridget Phillipson told Business Insider ahead of voting getting underway.
Privately senior Labour sources are playing down their chances. One told Business Insider that reports that the Conservatives would suffer big losses had been overstated.
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