In English local elections Labour won where it needed to

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Editor's note (May 4th 2024): This article has been updated.

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.