With voters going through a cost-of-living crisis and inflation stubbornly high, local council votes on May 4 give the opposition Labour Party an opportunity to prove their electoral credentials.
Sunak has tried to restore the credibility of the Conservative Party since coming to office in October, but he has struggled to draw a line under the turmoil that beset his predecessors despite breakthroughs on issues like Brexit.
It is towns like Swindon in southwest England which Labour leader Keir Starmer is targeting in a bid to return his party to power at the next national election, due before January 2025. He expressed optimism ahead of the vote, reflecting polls which give Labour an average lead of around 15 percentage points - a substantial lead but well down from highs of around 30 points during Truss's premiership.
Council elections can provide an indication of the public mood but also result in protest votes that overstate the unpopularity of the government, or be swayed by local factors. The Office for National Statistics in 2021 ranked Swindon as one of Britain's highest productivity areas outside of London thanks to its car manufacturing. But Honda closed its Swindon site that same year. U.S. industrial real estate firm Panattoni will open a logistics and manufacturing hub at the site.
"It does feel like the mood is changing in Swindon as its changing in the rest of the country," he told Reuters.
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