Culture Secretary blames Tory local election losses on…

Culture Secretary blames Tory local election losses on pandemic and Putin's invasion of Ukraine

Cultural Secretary Lucy Frazer has blamed heavy Tory losses in this week’s local elections on the pandemic and the ongoing war in Ukraine.

Speaking to Sky News this morning (May 7), Ms Frazer said she understood that voters were ‘frustrated and angry’ and acknowledged that the party now needed time to reflect following the results of the local ballots.

The Conservatives shed 960 councillors in Thursday’s poll, including nine seats in Bolton where every seat was up for grabs. Before the election, the Tories were the largest party in the borough and had run the council as a minority administration but they now sit in second place behind Labour, who gained seven seats.

Appearing on Sophy Ridge On Sunday, the Culture Secretary said that the disruption caused by the pandemic and Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine was having a toll on voters.

“If we could look at the context for the whole local election, we’ve been in power for a long time,” Ms Frazer told Sky News.

“We’ve just had a pandemic which has disrupted many people’s lives and has had consequences for the economy, as has the war in Ukraine, which is going on.”

Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer said she understood that voters were ‘frustrated and angry’ (ANDY RAIN/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

Pressed on whether she understood the scale of her party’s losses, she said: “Totally, it’s really important that we listen to people. I know people are frustrated and angry.”

Explaining how she recognised the results were “not good”, she added: “I totally understand that we need to do better and I think we are going to deliver.”

Despite the results, Ms Frazer claimed that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was starting to regain the public’s trust by delivering his five priorities, including curbing inflation, in a “quiet way”.

“I totally recognise we’ve had a really difficult few years,” she explained. “I do think that the Prime Minister, who’s now been in office for six months, is getting the country back on track and is delivering. I think we’re starting to gain the trust of the British public.”

Pressed on whether the Tories needed to offer more than Mr Sunak’s promises from January, she told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg On Sunday programme: “We absolutely need to reflect. I think Rishi’s only been the Prime Minister for six months.”

The Culture Secretary said she believed Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was starting to regain the public’s trust (Mark Thomas/REX/Shutterstock)

Kuenssberg said: “It’s not five minutes, it’s six months.”

“It’s not five minutes but these are huge challenges,” Ms Frazer replied.

Some Tories blamed the electoral hammering on the lack of tax cuts. Former minister Sir John Redwood tweeted: “Last Thursday many Conservative voters went on strike. They do not want to vote for higher taxes, anti enterprise policies and a failure to take back control of our borders.”

Ms Frazer insisted the Government was doing those things, saying: “The biggest tax cut we can make is a cut in inflation”.

Meanwhile, Labour was celebrating “pretty encouraging” local election results, which saw Sir Keir Starmer’s party gain 635 seats and take control of another 22 local authorities.

Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting told Ridge: “I think for the next general election Labour feels confident but not complacent.”

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