Sharjah24 - AFP: In their first significant election test since Prime Minister Rishi Sunak became the third leader of the UK in the course of a few turbulent weeks last year, the Conservatives are bracing for significant defeats.
In the depths of the worst cost-of-living crisis in decades, the local council elections across England on Thursday will shed light on the main parties' standing ahead of a UK-wide general election expected next year.
At the last parliamentary clash before the vote, opposition Labour leader Keir Starmer Wednesday pressed on Tory wounds after the party ditched Boris Johnson and then Liz Truss in quick succession last year.
Nearly two million Britons will end up paying more on their home loans "because his party used their money as a casino chip", Starmer told Sunak, referring to Truss's disastrous tenure, when financial markets tanked.
In national polls, Labour has built a double-digit lead over the Conservatives, and is treating the municipal elections as a referendum on Tory rule.
The prime minister tried to recast the elections -- for more than 8,000 council seats across 230 English districts -- back on to local issues.
In contrast to Labour's "broken promises", Sunak said, "we're getting on with delivering what we say with lower council tax, lower crime and fewer (road) potholes".
He also defended an innovation introduced by his government for these elections -- requiring voters to show photo identification for the first time, in a move decried by Labour as an attempt to suppress the vote.
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