Boris celebrated that the “red wall” was broken | The co …

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has had a joyous day like few Conservatives have ever had. It was a small but historic election in which a deputy was elected from only one district. But the symbolism was huge, as the Tories won for the first time in history the harsh bastion of Hartlepool, a working-class town in the north of England where if someone voted right they would no longer speak to them in the neighborhood. . . Created in 1974, the district was a rock for the conservatives, a red wall in which its candidates were only testimonies. But this Thursday, Jill Mortimer hit the jackpot and showed how British politics has changed since the Brexit referendum.

Hartlepool had a Labor MP who lost his charter over allegations of sexual harassment. The party went to the elections trusting the working-class tradition of the district, but ended up losing two to one on the right. Johnson immediately attended the scene and with a big smile reminded the opposition that in 2016 Hartlepool voted overwhelmingly, seventy percent, to leave the European Union. Mad Boris, as the Labor Party calls him, said it with the upper-class accent Hartlepool once hated, the kind that students in expensive schools learn and never lose.

The election, which was added to several municipal and regional elections, and another special for MPs, was the Conservatives’ first electoral test since Brexit and the pandemic. The result does not bode well for the 2024 generals of opposition leader Keir Starmer, who said he was “disappointed” and pledged to ensure that “the gap between the Party and the workers” is bridged. The moderate Starmer took the reins of the party after the electoral failure of the most radicalized Jeremy Corbyn in the legislative elections of 2019, when he lost many seats on the “red wall” to the conservatives. This result belies the argument that the Labor Party was losing votes because Corbyn was too leftist.

“We have lost four general elections and last night we had very disappointing results,” Starmer admitted on Friday. “It goes way beyond a reshuffle or personalities, it is about centering the Labor Party in the country and making sure that we bridge the gap between the Labor Party and the workers,” he said. he says.

But he has difficulty convincing. “That a town like Hartlepool, which has been Labor for half a century, is now in the hands of the Tories is heartbreaking,” Labor leader of local communities Steve Reed told the BBC, lamenting a “devastating result” . So, despite 127,000 deaths from covid-19, the highest death toll of any European country, and recent crony and possible corruption scandals, the controversial Johnson passes his first electoral exam with good marks. In addition to his popularity with Brexit supporters, Johnson “spent astronomical sums during the pandemic and oversaw a very successful vaccination campaign,” said Jane Green, professor of political science at the University of Oxford, noting that in addition “the economy takes a turn for the worse.

According to election expert John Curtice, the Tories have gained an average of twelve points against Labor in pro-Brexit areas compared to the last local election.

But Johnson must pass a much bigger test, the momentum that separatists hope to achieve in Scotland, where a new regional parliament has been voted as part of this electoral “super Thursday”. In the region of 5.4 million people, the Scottish Nationalist Party of Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon, which reigns in a minority, is hoping to gain strong support to advance its call for a second referendum on self-determination. In the first, held in 2014, the ‘no’ was imposed at 55%, motivated by the argument that independence would leave Scotland out of the EU.

But two years later, the Brexit referendum changed things and Scots were dragged out of the bloc after rejecting it by 62%. The Scottish Prime Minister argues that this has been a game-changer and hopes to strengthen his position to put pressure on London. Pending final results which will not arrive until the weekend, Sturgeon says for the moment “extremely happy that the SNP seems on track to win a fourth consecutive electoral victory”.

Some 48 million voters were called on Thursday to elect 5,000 councilors from 143 local assemblies in England, the regional parliaments of Wales and Scotland, the MP for Hartlepool and the mayor of London. In the capital, Labor Sadiq Khan, the first Muslim mayor of a western capital, should win without difficulty.