The Liberal Democrats are jubilant after this set of local elections, and with good reason.

In the meantime Labour just carp from the sidelines.' The only party which is serious about stopping the boats is the Conservative Party and that's why the government is getting on with its programme of measures. Instead of the Tories' gimmicks and grandstanding, we need practical hard work.'Ī Home Office source said: 'Labour's plan to stop the boats consists of proposing what we're already doing which is to give more money to the National Crime Agency - and even the NCA don't think this on its own will solve the small boats crisis. 'While the Conservatives keep chasing headlines, the crossings will continue, the backlog will grow and more and more people will be housed in hotels. Labour's shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, said: 'Far from stopping the boats, channel crossings have only increased since the home secretary announced her con of a bill. The crossings come despite Home Secretary Suella Braverman's promise that the government's recently passed Illegal Migration Bill would deter further arrivals. The latest government figures show that a total 616 people crossed the English Channel over the last seven days.Ī total of 14 boats were detected, the Home Office said. The local elections have weakened Rishi Sunak, and once the bunting is down he will have to work out how to give his party any hope of avoiding a humiliating defeat at the next election. There don’t seem to be calls for the PM’s scalp, but there are those who would clearly like to see a change in strategy, John Redwood is already tweeting about tax cuts and Jackie Doyle Price this morning said the party need to “start governing like Conservatives and be re-elected as Conservatives”. One conservative MP, a Boris Johnson supporter, tells me: “After 13 years and three prime ministers it would be harsh to blame him entirely”. However, even some of the PM’s long-time critics in the party don’t totally blame Rishi Sunak.

The local elections were the first big test of Rishi Sunak’s popularity with the public, there had been some optimism in No 10 last week that he was cutting through and recovering the party's dire poll ratings, but the result was far worse than anyone around the PM imagined. Soon though his royal respite will be over, and focus will return to what went so badly wrong for the conservatives at the ballot box. The bunting is still up, and while Rishi Sunak hosts the First Lady of the United States on Downing Street for a lunch party today, the coronation continues to distract from his crushing local election defeat.

Dirty secret by emma hart