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Local election results 2024: Mayoral results due after Labour notches up key wins - BBC News Local election results 2024 live: Mayoral results due after Labour notches up key wins - BBC News
(32 minutes later)
The party spin machines have been in full swing over the last couple of days, eager to explain why these results are good news for their respective general election chances. Professor Sir John Curtice
The BBC's former political editor Nick Robinson and presenter Amol Rajan have been picking it all apart in the latest episode of the Today Podcast. Professor of politics at University of Strathclyde
Are there really silver linings for the Tories? Should Labour have performed even better? And will support for smaller parties actually hold up when the country goes to the polls in a matter of months? Under our electoral system, when a party gains seats, it is not just a reflection of their performance, but their competitors', too.
Perhaps even more importantly than all that, Robinson and Rajan also discuss the critical issue of how they manage to squeeze in a few hours of sleep during all-night election coverage. The Liberal Democrat vote this time was up marginally compared to 2021. But the crucial reason why they were able to win is because the Conservative vote is down by over 11 points.
You can listen to their analysis here. It's certainly true that the Lib Dem performance was better in Tory wards and they didn't do as well in Labour areas.
The Lib Dems have long since decided they are not trying to increase their national share of the vote, and they certainly haven't done so according to polls or these results.
Instead, they are betting the farm on the struggles of the Tory party in the polls being repeated at the next general election.
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