England held local elections yesterday. England is divided up into counties and independent cities (so-called “unitary authorities,” meaning the cities are not part of the surrounding county, but are the sole local government authority). The local councils then, although smaller in population than US states, are the next level down from the national government and parliamentary representatives. Political pundits in the US track how well the national parties are doing at control of state legislatures in the US (currently 23 Democrat, 14 Republican, and 12 split control – Nebraska has a non-partisan state legislature!). In the UK, the analog is how many of the local council governments are controlled by each of the national parties.

Preliminary returns are showing that the liberal Labor Party is getting crushed. They are losing 2/3 of their seats. They were already in the minority, with less than 500 council seats, while the Conservatives had over 1,000. It looks as though Labor may have lost 200-300 of their seats and may wind up with less than 200 total. This is a stunning rebuke. Prior to the elections yesterday, The conservatives controlled 21 of the 34 local councils. Labor controlled 4. The Conservatives have upped their numbers to control 27 councils (with five still not counted yet). The Labor party has lost control of all four councils that they previously held, including some urban, traditionally liberal areas that they had controlled for almost thirty years.

Liberal Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s days appear numbered.