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| Europe |
| Iraq war costs Blair’s party in local vote |
| 2004-06-11 |
| Anger over the war in Iraq got the blame on Friday as Prime Minister Tony Blair’s Labour Party suffered big losses in local council elections. With two-thirds of the 166 local councils declared, Labour was on its way to a third-place finish. The BBC projected that the main opposition Conservative Party would finish with 38 per cent of the total vote, followed by Britain’s third party, the Liberal Democrats, with 29 per cent. The Labour Party was projected to finish with 26 per cent of the total vote....Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott told BBC Radio that the war in Iraq was a major factor, but he predicted that public services, not war, would be the deciding factor in next year’s general election. "Iraq was a cloud, or indeed a shadow, over these elections," he said. "I am not saying we haven’t had a kicking. It’s not a great day for Labour." The council elections aren’t the only test for Blair’s party. Britons were also voting for representatives to the European Parliament. Results for most of the 25 European Union member countries won’t be known until Sunday, but unofficial results show opposition parties that opposed the war in Iraq were scoring significant gains. |
| Posted by:Rafael |
| #3 Totally agree with Bulldog here, there is some anti-war sentiment. But that's going to go to Galloway (spit) and the 'Respect' coalition, and as BD says the Lib Dems (also known as the "what's our policy today then?" party). If the Tories were to go for the jugular (renegotiate our membership of the EU to reduce all the cack regulations, address the immigration and asylum issue and reduce taxes) they would wipe the floor with Labour. |
| Posted by: Tony (UK) 2004-06-12 8:14:41 AM |
| #2 There's a lot of hyping going on about Iraq costing Labour votes. It's a factor for some voters, but there's little to suggest it's a majority. It seems domestic issues are a bigger factor, primarily the ever-rising taxes with nothing to show for in the way of improvements to public services; also Blair's Eurounion-enthusiasm, and immigration and assylum. The Tories wouldn't be doing so well, after all, if voters were simply transferring to an anti-war party (the Lib Dems)... |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2004-06-12 4:32:29 AM |
| #1 I hope Blair will receive a bounce off of the Reagan-fest. I guess it would depend on Sky News coverage - I can't think that the BBC was too in to Ronnie's agenda. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-06-11 10:27:28 PM |