Westminstenders: Fallout coming to a place near you soon

[RedToothBrush]

Once again not much to report on Brexit itself.

The sideshow of Gavin Williamson lots set to run and rumble on. The scandal further weakens May as she has lost a key ally. Despite his protests of innocence, May herself must believe he is guilty. Whether this is because she is indeed too heavily influenced by Sedwill is the question, but for her to sack him when she has failed to do so with other Cabinet Members so many times means she must feel there is good reason. Every other party has seen it as a good opportunity to put the boot in and demand an investigation. So far this has been paid lip service as the Cabinet Office must approve any investigation and this doesn't seem to be forthcoming from Lidington. This may not hold, if pressure grows. In truth the whole affair is unlikely to damage Williamson's leadership ambitions; he has raised his profile and set up a narrative of a Remainer Victim. Penny Mordaunt has been the other major beneficiary of the issue.

May now seems to have abandoned the idea that there will be a way forward found before the European elections and they are now definitely going ahead. This isn't a surprise as there is no incentive for Labour to have an agreement before the EU elections in which the Conservatives are certain to get a bloody nose. She also seems to be dropping hints they she will give into a customs union.

We have a visit from Trump to look forward to, which will be utterly joyous. There are rumours that he might meet Farage whilst he is here. His visit starts on 3rd June and finish on the 5th.

The Peterborough By Election is set for just a few days later on the 6th June. The Brexit Party have a very good chance of winning their first Parliamentary seat here - so the temptation to have a photo shoot with Trump will be all the more appealing to Farage. The hope must be that the Brexit vote will be split, allowing Labour to retain the seat. The previous Conservative MP, Stewart Jackson might well stand and he's very Brexity, George Galloway is trying to get the Brexit Party candidency though I think it unlikely and he will probably stand as a Pro-Brexit Independent anyway. There is also the prospect of Farage himself standing as its a winnable seat, but this seems unlikely as you can't be an MEP and an MP and its a high risk strategy to go for MP rather than a sure fire MEP. (Plus the pay is better for MEP).

May faces a challenge at grassroots level with an Emergency Meeting called by the Conservative Associations at her leadership. This will be in mid June. After the local, EU elections and Trump's visit this will be difficult for her to survive. Whilst she has survived this long, this will prove to be her biggest challenge yet.

It has to be said that there is no sign that we will get anything but no deal ultimately. There is an admission that May can't pass a Queen's speech with anything meaningful, so as long as she remains as PM parliament is even more paralysed that it has been to date. All things point to a new leader who is very Brexitty or accidental no deal because May can not do anything.

Meanwhile in the real world there are rumours that cancer treatments are now being delayed indefinitely due to Brexit... And so we continue to destroy ourselves and now, it seems, actively kill people in the name of Brexit.

Local Election results will start tonight with the majority tomorrow. Tories are expecting 700 - 1000 losses.

Josiah Mortimer @JosiahMortimer
Worth noting latest @HansardSociety research: "75 per cent of people think the main political parties are so divided within themselves they cannot serve the best interests of the country"

We have spoken about developer greed and lack of B.regs on here and only yesterday! If a party came up with a huge shake-up here it really would hit the top 10% profiteering over the rest.

Our council had been combined due to border changes.
'This is a new unitary authority, formed from two merged councils. As the council has never elected councillors before, our change figures will be based upon "notional results" - predictions on what the results would have been had the council existed at the time of the last election.' Well originally all 4 were Tory so will have to see when results finally cone in.

Laura Kuenssberg
@bbclaurak
Tories now down 433 seats, Labour still down 81, Lib Dems have gained 301

Should read 2 not 4

As a Parish Councillor we would oppose as many new developments as possible byt the government made significant changes which were ill thought out (there is a theme there!) and most 'opposition' to development became near futile.
Since Hateisnotgood was so keen to rubbish my wanting the best future for all, maybe (s)he would like to list the various committees and voluntary groups they have been actively involved in over the last 50 years. I started in the 'Friday club' committee when I was 11.
Chair of an NCT group for a year was interesting. Of course all of the activities that I have been involved with have been negatively impacted by Brexit.

Jennifer Williams @jenwilliamsMEN
After covering the results all night here, they fit with what people were telling me three weeks ago: voters pissed off with both main parties. This time the locals are perhaps more national than usual, in that people are annoyed with mainstream politicians full stop. 1/

There ARE local issues playing into this though, and I think one of the overlooked aspects has been the drip of local govt/police cuts and how that has affected local areas: dirtier streets, more potholes, fewer cops. It all feeds into the malaise

Finally, in Greater Manchester, there are peripheral green belt rows playing out, as there were last year, as a result of the mayor’s development blueprint.

Overall? For all the reasons listed above, which are often all swirled together and can be both local and national at the same time, those who practice apolitical pavement politics have been rewarded for not being Them.

I’d stress policing cuts in particular. A lot of canvassers here say rising crime - and the cops not coming out - came up over and over again. When pols let people feel unsafe like this, while their council tax bills rocket, they should expect to be punished in the end

Looks like EU isn't the only place making back-up plans for Brexit UK factories dropped by global supply chains

@prettybird Thank you for your asparagus-growing tips. I have shared them with DH.

Our area (Sefton) gained two Labour seats.

For some reason the BBC isn't giving vote numbers so I need to find that. It's the school run now though.

I haven't been able to find my ward either, as the local news is concentrating on the two Labour gains in another ward.

Just a quick placemark to say that....
Some councils (eg Test Valley) have had boundary review so losses and gains will not add up
And
Many district councils do third third third elections with county elections in the fourth year

The person I voted for got in in my ward.
3 wards: 1 x labour, 1 x con and 1 x ind.

John McDonnell MP
@johnmcdonnellMP
We’ll see what final results of local elections look like by end of day as they are pretty mixed geographically up to now but so far message from local elections- “Brexit - sort it.” Message received.

Robert Peston
@Peston
More Robert Peston Retweeted John McDonnell MP
This is most significant political reaction to the local elections so far. It suggests Labour's leadership, led by @jeremycorbyn and @johnmcdonnellMP, are now keen to agree a Brexit compromise with @theresa_may. But not clear either Corbyn or May can carry their parties with them

We do not have a result for the North of Tyne Combined Authority result yet.

My local Labour councillor got re-elected , but the number of people who voted for her halved. No one else got more votes, no UKIP surge, so it was more Labour voters spoiling their votes / not voting. Hope she takes note.

NO! No Brexit 'compromise'! Look at the people voting remain parties in! People have changed their minds! If they force it through now, despite the only voice we've had shouting that people don't agree with Brexit I really do think people will take to the streets!

The big news story round here Con take NE Lincs for first time ever, previously Lab. Brexit land.

Beth Rigby@bethrigby
^This from Tory source in SW
Wipeout of LDs in SW delivered 2015 maj. Losses overnight but “far far worse is to come” Thinks Tories will lose N Somerset, Sedgemoor, Mendip & go from to 5 councils in Somerset to none. Devon could be as bad. Might lose Soutb Gloucestershire too 1/2^

Tory local wipe out in SW.
My source; “A political map that was almost completely blue will be almost completely orange”
“Really bleak because many of us have been warning CCHQ not to take their eyes off LD battleground. When you give the LDs an inch, they’ll take miles” 2/2

John McDonnell has realised the EU elections are going to be bad for Labour. Previously they were happy to let them happen as they thought it would harm the Tories but they'd do OK. Now they realise they are going to be bad they will want a deal before to stop them going ahead.

Imo it's too late to stop them now.

Plus if they help deliver Brexit then Labour will really haemorrhage even more support...

Tom Newton Dunn @tnewtondunn
Is it just Brexit that has hit the Labour vote, or Corbyn personally too? One Labour MP just now: “Jeremy Corbyn has come up on the doorstep right across the country. Colleagues are saying this privately, but not publicly. He is a bigger problem than Brexit”.

Honestly I think there's truth in this.

The thing is, in our consistency, we had no choice.
1 labour
3 conservative
1 independant, who used to be conservative but was deselected (couldn’t find out why he had...)

So basically the choice was conservative or conservative....

Im wondering how often this has been the case across the country and whether more choice would have given a different picture.

Lewis Goodall@lewis_goodall
Labour MPs are waking up and they're not happy with what they've found. One texts: "You stand in the middle of the road and you get run over in both directions. Corbyn must go. He is killing our party and our country."

Labour were so desperate for a candidate in my ward they approached me!!

Laura Kuenssberg@bbclaurak
Labour MP suggesting their party being less honest than Tories about their problems at the top - says problems of Jeremy Corbyn's leadership came up repeatedly on the doorstep

Beth Rigby@bethrigby
Meanwhile, as Tories brace for big losses today in English shires, the PM is fleeing the electoral war zone with visit to activists in Wales & Scotland. Wonder how English activists getting a drubbing feel about that? I’m going too, so I’ll be back online when I land!

Same old same old here. Labour won. Everything. Lost one to the Greens but won one off the Tories.
The good news is that UKIP tanked.
However, if this week's acceptable face of Brexit (the B Party) were standing I suspect the result would have been different.