Sir Keir Starmer had plenty of choices to take a victory lap after local elections in England on May 2nd. The Labour leader could have nipped to Swindon, home to a classic marginal constituency, where Labour increased its majority on the council. He could have visited Nuneaton, a bellwether seat in the Midlands, where the party snatched control. In the end Sir Keir plumped for Northallerton Town football club in North Yorkshire. Labour had just won the first ever mayoralty of the region, which is home to some of the safest Tory seats in the country. That would have upset the local Tory MP, one Rishi Sunak.

The main story of local elections was one of Labour steamrolling its way to government. From Manchester to London, Labour won all the mayoralties up for grabs bar one (counting continues in another). It scooped up councillors and councils across a range of target seats. In contrast the Conservatives were pummelled. With one council yet to declare its results, the Tories have lost 473 councillors, at the top end of the worst expectations and almost half of the seats they were defending. The Liberal Democrats have won more contests than the governing party.