Brexit anger?

English voters frustrated with the deadlock over Brexit have punished Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservatives and the main opposition Labour Party in local elections, early results showed yesterday.

The results of Thursday’s elections are another display of how Britain’s 2016 vote to leave the European Union has split voters beyond traditional party lines and are a first indication of the damage Brexit has done to the two big parties.

The frustration sometimes boiled over. One audience member shouted “Why don’t you resign?” before May addressed Conservatives in Wales and some ballot papers were spoiled, with voters refusing to vote for any of the parties.

With just over half of English local council vote results declared, the Conservative Party had lost 551 councillors and Labour had lost 73 councillors, according to a BBC tally.

The main beneficiary of the swing against the two main parties - which are in talks to try to break the impasse in the British parliament over Brexit - was the pro-EU Liberal Democrats, who had won 354 councillors so far, and said they hoped to make further gains in European Parliament elections on May 23.