Local election voters delivered an emphatic warning to Rishi Sunak, but stopped short of anointing Sir Keir Starmer as Britain’s PM-in-waiting. These contests were in many ways a dress rehearsal for the likely 2024 general election, with 70% of England’s electorate having the opportunity to cast a ballot. And while there is always some debate over voters’ primary motivations for choosing a particular party in a local poll – potholes perhaps mattering more than PMQs – there is no doubting that the Conservatives were sent packing by the electorate in swathes of England. The Tories lost more than one thousand seats nationwide and had 48 councils taken out of their control, in results even Rishi Sunak described as “disappointing”. They suffered bruising defeats in East Staffordshire, Dover and Medway, with the councils switching from Tory to Labour control, while the Liberal Democrats seized Windsor & Maidenhead and Dacorum from Conservative clutches. Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey jubil...