Once again, the ruling Conservative led-coalition of the United Kingdom suffered another defeat during the mid-term local elections across the country.
Even Prime Minister David Cameron suffered the discomfort of losing seats in his own Witney constituency to the opposition Labour Party.
Nonetheless the Tories and their partners, the Liberal Democrats, took control and won important councils in areas such as the second city of Birmingham, Southampton, Reading, Plymouth, Norwich, Thurrock and Harlow.
But such gains did not protect it from receiving a bloody nose from voters across the country.
Even though this correspondent was on a mission outside the country, he received contrasting predictions from different experts concerning the results.
However, the surprise remains the fact that Labour was able to take hundreds of seats, leaving just a few for the coalition to grab.
Some of the experts maintained that the ‘majority of the British are not happy with the current cuts embarked upon by the coalition, because such cuts are too deep and too fast’.
Other observers, however, suggested that even though such cuts are considered ‘too fast and deep’ it is ‘vital for the economy’ and further blamed Labour for the economic difficulties of the country.
In another development, George Galloway, the outspoken politician who was expelled from Labour, for openly opposing and further criticizing the party in public forums for the invasion of Iraq, also took control of Bradford which was a Labour stronghold. Galloway’s Respect party is also celebrating.
A few hours prior to the elections, a projection of the national vote conducted indicated that the Labour party gained about 40 percent, 31percent for the Tories and the Lib Dems with 16 percent. Such projection was played down by the government adamant to ‘fix and reform’ the British economy.
Reacting to the results, Ed Miliband said: ‘Labour was winning back the trust of the people…we are regaining ground, but there is more work to done’, he added.
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg accepted that he was ‘really sad’, but equally maintained that his party will continue to play its role in Government ‘dealing with the economic crisis’.
The Prime Minister said that he was ‘sorry’ for losing despite ‘all the hard work’.
Nevertheless, the coalition will be relieved by the poll survey by certain bodies, including the Evening Standard, which suggested that the Conservative London Mayor Boris Johnson was set for clinch victory over his rival Ken Livingstone.
